How does it feel to be alive'
by antaress9
Summary: The brotherly-fight between Naruto & Gaara pays them an unforeseen turn in their lives – a trespass into other dimension and a slight chance to live a 'normal' life… Eventual ItaxNaru; Gaaxsoon-to-be; OOC characters. Currently on hold.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. I just place him in a different world of _weird_ experiences…

Summary: The brotherly-fight between Naruto & Gaara pays them the unforeseen turn in their lives – the trespass into the other dimension and a slight chance to live a 'normal' life… Eventual ItaxNaru; Gaax??!; OOC characters

Warnings: boy-x-boy relationship (will be further on…), jealousy, anger & violence…

"Talking"

'_Thinking'_

"_Memories"_

* * *

'_**How does it feel to be alive?!'**_

((_The path one takes_))

* * *

The Jounin-exam was about to take place until – a huge explosion went off outside the walls of Konohagakure.

"Hey people, Naruto and Gaara are fighting!" yelled Kiba from the door to the rest of the Konoha11 and two Sand siblings, who stormed out of the rest-room after the _dog-lover_ and his dog Akamaru.

Passing their Jounin-exams last year, all of the Konoha11 (except Naruto) – Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Kiba (with his dog – Akamaru), Shino, Hinata, Sakura, Neji, Lee, Tenten – and Sand siblings – Temari, Kankuro – were fully aware of both demons sealed into two best-friends…

Ever since Naruto had beaten the crap out of the red-_panda_, Gaara had developed a huge respect towards the blond-boy thus becoming his friend.

After the failed retrieval mission of one Uchiha Sasuke, two years ago, the two Jinchuuriki went on a yearlong training journey to the places most unknown.

A year of training under the sealed-demons went pass and the two boys were summoned back for their ability-test.

Gaara's and Naruto's developments were surpassing high-Jounin level. Now the two 14-year-old friends were both Anbu, graduating their rank at the age of 13. The rank of their progress was tested and approved by the Fifth-Hokage of the Leaf-village along with the Council of the Sand-village (since the Fourth-Kazekage was dead).

The two 14-year-olds were named _the_ _ultimate-tools of sand and leaf._ Naruto and Gaara were _tools_ of both villages. As allies they could summon the Jinchuuriki from the other village to fight alongside them.

Ever since the merge of their demons occurred in the sixth day of the sixth month – on the day when the moon covered the sun and solar eclipse pass – the two 14-year-old teens became practically unstoppable.

Although the wished respect and acknowledgment from villagers was never shown in the past, it was now… though only as _tools_ and nothing more, but it was at least something for them.

Friends of the two called them 'brothers'. The Jinchuuriki are known to their friends as _'…so different yet so similar…'_

It was a good laugh for both Naruto and Gaara's friends after the merge of the demons, because the two were rewarded with the looks of lustful _hunger_ directed towards them from women and men everywhere they went.

Needles to say – the two 'brothers' were beautiful.

Gaara's red-hair grew till his middle-back yet was still spiky in the front, fastened into a loose tail at the back. His ears became slightly pointier – gracing his handsome pale-facial features. Eyes were now deeply green, though the rings around them remained anyway along with his _love_-tattoo on the left-side of the forehead.

Gaara was finally able to sleep at nights; although his sleep did usually take 2 till 3 hours… he just wasn't used to it.

After the year's appearance, the thing that was the most shocking about Gaara was that he learned to smile. All of their friends thought they were going to fade or something…and had to subconsciously rub their eyes each time after one or two minutes to check the reality that was _Gaara's smile_. Well…what you expect? Time with Naruto really changes people… It doesn't matter what kind of person it is – he'll kill everyone's doubts and fear as if it were nothing.

Dropping that shock, everyone went to the next stage that was amazement…

The gourd on Gaara's back was not needed anymore because he could gain or summon the sand through anywhere he wanted it. Gaara perfected his techniques with sand through year's training. He could now use any type of sand he wanted to; however the sand was no longer Gaara's only weapon. His skills in combat increased tenfold along with his jutsu skills, which were mainly taught by Naruto himself.

Next came Naruto… He's appearance was the ultimate shock to everyone he was known to the most.

Along with Gaara, Naruto's face had taken on an elf-like appearance. His ears were as pointy as Gaara's. The whisker-like-marks on each side of his cheeks were now slightly deeper and longer. Leaving his tanned skin the same as always, Naruto's blue eyes became a bit darker but unmistakably blue none the less – showing the beautiful depths of the ocean. The sun-yellow hair grew till his hips with blood red-strands in the middle and two blood red bangs on either side in the front – forming his congenial face; all tied up and made in a long tress.

The seal on Naruto's stomach fade… However, after the merge – he and Gaara received the symbols of the last_ goodbyes_, marking them forever as the vessels of their two demons.

With the usage of their own blood, demons scraped the symbols (or rather large tattoos in teens' eyes) of themselves.

Back home none were aware of the tattoos both Jinchuuriki got after the merge of their Bijuus… Tattoos were dreadful looking but insufferably beautiful at the same time.

Naruto and Gaara had the images scratched on their backs. The procedure of color was unexplainable… but it was there – two demons clear as a picture positioned proudly and eerily through whole teens' backs.

The Bijuus looked as if ready to leap at anyone who looks at their vessels' back-side…; the tattoo seemed like coming from the inside of the back with one clawed-paw little outstretched towards anyone who dares to touch that skin; eyes narrowed and glaring straight forward…

'_try and stick a knife in the back'_

Naruto had six of nine Kyuubi's tails going little over his back and ending at both sides of his stomach – making it look as if Kyuubi's nails were holding his waist from behind. _'Ironic isn't it…?!' _was Naruto's usual replay to Gaara – the only one who actually saw the tattoo.

Gaara had Shikaku, as weird as it would seem to him – a little less fat and a lot more muscular looking, with his tail gracefully forming Gaara's pale-back.

The formation of tattoos was incredibly painful for 'brothers' – it cost them month long pain, mixture of weird color, the burns, the adjustment of the skin and the acceptance of a foreign blood on it… – it was unbearable. Yet after the end of the tournament Naruto and Gaara had full control of their demons' entire power, which also gained them the power to use it all at once – creating a full force and two unstoppable _killing-machines_.

The action made Naruto, if it was possible, even more powerful than Gaara, who already was powerful enough to take the whole village down with his and a little of the demonic strength combined.

Naruto's sudden changes in his fighting-skills were plain enigma. His skills could now simply surpass the Fourth-Hokage himself. The abrupt upturn from _the number one – hyperactive – knucklehead – ninja _was turned into the most fearsome and unstoppable _tool_ of Konohagakure.

Naruto was no more pushed by the idiotic-villagers as he was when young; however, he was no longer treated as human as well, not that he was before…

Apart from his friends, he was named _the_ _tool of Konohagakure. _And Gaara was not far behind… receiving the same attitude from his village he was named _the_ _tool of Sunagakure_.

The 'brothers' hated it…

…But were kept in place from destroying the two villages because of their friends, who were the only ones that were important to the two Jinchuuriki.

Even without their demonic powers – the 'brothers' were known and feared between the villages with their own strength…

…Then one can only imagine what would happen if they are combining their stamina with demons' power…

The things occurring in Konoha, as well as in Suna, were now official – ever since either of the two 'brothers' would come for a visit to the one another's village they were off to go and destroy another half of the forest's or desert's landscapes by facing each other, thus satisfying themselves with some sort of chiseled chaos for one of the villages.

Both of them were wearing similar wear to Jounin's – black baggy pants going till their knees with kunai-holder wrapped around the right thigh; white bandages wrapped around their shanks; black ninja-sandals – separating a big toe from the rest; and black, sleeveless shirt. Gaara's usual white sash was gracing his thin figure. It's wrapped over his chest and tied around the hips, making some of the sash to hang over his ass till his ankles.

Naruto also got himself a sash – it was white, winded around his hips, leaving it to hang over beside his left leg and a little over the knee-length.

Their sashes, however, were not used only for decorations… they had a trick or two…

As for the headbands – they stopped wearing them the moment they became the _ultimate tools_. At least visibly 'brothers' refused to wear the symbols that were now nothing more than markings which would only verify them as the _property _of the village, and the same thing was with Anbu tattoo – they didn't allow it to be put on their flesh. The only thing that approved their loyalty to their villages was the blood contract.

* * *

Another blast came about four miles away from Konoha's walls. Konoha11 and the two Sand siblings finally arrived at the chaotic area of the Leaf's once-was-forest; standing a good distance on and by the remaining forest's trees they viewed one of the lifetime's best fights.

The demon aura was spreading through the whole place.

In the middle of the now wide clear-field, in about 1/4 of the mile diameter radius, two chakra figures darted at one another – one yellow and the other red…

After the merge of their demons the 'brothers'' chakra changed its once blue color into brightly-red for Naruto and brightly-yellow for Gaara.

…Making contact – another explosion erupt. Smoke spread around the two still intact figures. Looking closer through his _Byakugan_, Neji could see Naruto and Gaara fighting in a close-range-combat – exchanging one deadly-blow after another, which for normal ninjas would be fatal at the first seconds. No tensions could be sensed… just determination and something akin to… fun!?

"Well… there goes the second part of our forest," murmured Kiba, checking the land around them.

"The problem with those two is that no one dares to go against them anymore, since it will be quite nasty after their done with you," reminded Shikamaru.

"That and… LOOK OUT!" yelled Kiba as a huge swirl of red-chakra was abruptly shot their way. Scrambling just in time they watched the red-chakra get slammed to the ground and tumble for another twenty meters till it finally stopped.

One angry Naruto, covered with swirling red-chakra, stood up and with incredible speed stormed towards the _panda_-friend burning the ground on his way. The heated red-blur passed its friends blinding them on the way.

The third explosion went off, this time bigger than the last one, dusting the whole area along with the spectators into a thick smoke. Two fighters were forced from the dust and flew to the opposite directions far away from one another, painfully crushing to the ground.

After a couple of minutes, created piles of smoke finally ceased – revealing a huge hole about 7meters deep and 80meters wide. The 'brothers' were now standing in their creations middle area facing each other.

"Yo! What brings you here?" abruptly came a cheerful voice of Kakashi Hatake behind the Konoha11 and the Sand siblings; alongside him stood the rest of the Konoha's11 previous senseis - Kurenai Yuhi, Asuma Sarutobi and Might Gai.

"Isn't it obvious?" rising his eyebrow at the dum question asked Neji.

"GAI-SENSEI, WE ARE ALL HERE TO OBSERVE THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH IN THE TWO MOST YOUTHFUL FRIENDS OF OURS," raising his hand cheered Lee to his idol.

"Ah, Lee… My precious student… I am so proud!" cried Gai.

"Indeed," grunted the rest.

"Anyway, shouldn't you guys be on the Jounin-exam, guarding? It should start in a few minutes," informed Shikamaru.

"I could say the same to you," grinned Asuma earning a usual _'drag'_ sentence from Shikamaru.

"Well, if the two of those will not finish soon enough, I guess the exam won't be taking place today at all," informed Kurenai, eyeing the two exhausted figures in the field.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"Look around!" simply stated Kakashi, putting his perverted-book away and enjoy the fight instead.

Just so… almost all of the villagers were surrounding the area – leering at the _demon-fighters_ and occupying the spots by the remaining forest's trees around the wide nothingness. Even the Fifth-Hokage – Tsunade herself was there, standing at the other end of the 'stadium' alongside Jiraiya and a few feudal lords from other villages surrounded by their bodyguards, who arrived to view the Jounin-exam but apparently found something much more entertaining.

"Wha-…" panted Naruto, "… what's wrong… _panda_? Wh-… Why ai-… ain't you using… ya sand?" he finally finished breathing heavily with a weak smile spread on the face.

Gaara hearing that grinned through his own pants. A mumble of _'why not'_ was spoken, although no-one heard it.

Gaara kneeled to the ground and quickly started making necessary hand-seals. Naruto's smile disappeared and he went wide-eyed.

"I WAS JUST TEASING, YOU ASS!" yelled Naruto as a huge wave of sand started to form from the ground.

"Fancy," valued Kiba, leering at the huge pile of dirt-wave.

"He's dead!" simply stated Temari with others agreeing at the same time.

Naruto stared at the huge 30meter high and 60meter wide wave towering above him.

'_Very well…'_

Before it could go down on him… Naruto closed his eyes…concentrating. Suddenly three long red chakra-tails appeared behind him. As soon as they formed – one of the chakra-tails quickly darted towards the towering form of the gigantic sand-wave. Stretching its own length it broke its way through the thick pile of earth and kept darting till it reached its prey.

Surprised Gaara wasn't able to come up with the backup-plan and was entwined with the red-chakra around his waist. Without a second to spare he was pulled towards Naruto's direction through his own sand-wave. Ceasing his jutsu subconsciously, the wave started to go down out of control. Naruto was barely able to get Gaara out of there, before he could be crushed to bits.

"Well… what a predicament," everyone thought.

"What is that thing anyway?" asked Ino referring to the red-chakra-tail.

"Kyuubi's tail?!" thought Sakura.

"Sort of!" said Kakashi; he himself couldn't quite understand and explain how Kyuubi's chakra could move on its own accord without any usage of hand-signs or anything in that meter…

"But how is it possible for chakra to move on its own?" asked intrigued Tenten.

"Mind games…, through his mind he subordinates the chakra to do his bidding," explained Neji watching Gaara being dragged towards smirking Naruto who prepared for the contact by swinging his fist, ready to go for the painful-hit.

"To accomplish such level of chakra control you must possess an unimaginable quantity of your own chakra to produce and maintain the balance of the chakra you use physically," stated Kurenain, "but mainly you must be in all time focus with your mind."

"So… could it be that all this has nothing to do with Kyuubi's power?" asked Ino wincing as she saw Naruto deliver a painful punch towards Gaara, who was still in the grip of the tail.

Gaara went flying from his predator, however Naruto did not stop there. Not satisfied yet he grabbed his chakra-tail with both hands and started swinging it around himself along with the poor-_panda_ hanging at the end.

"By a long shot," answering Ino's question said Kakashi – somewhat amused at Naruto's display towards Gaara, "This is Naruto we're talking about."

"He would rather reject his ramen for a whole week than use that chakra or any other chakra that is not his in the actual fight," explained chuckling Asuma.

Eyeing his surroundings from the corner of his eye, Naruto found his second prey. He did the final three strong-speeded swirls of 7meter long 'rope' and cut it. The chakra ceased and the poor-thing was sent flying to the _friend-bunch_.

"Oh, shit!" screamed the happy _friend-bunch_. They awkwardly moved out of the way in time to see Gaara's back hitting the tree-trunk they were just standing on/under. Sliding down from the tree, Gaara painfully landed on his butt-cheeks.

"NARUTO! THAT WAS UNCALLED FOR!" yelled Kiba, knowing fully well that it was on purpose.

"Hi, Kiba!" waved grinning Naruto, showing of his two beautiful fangs – another change from the merge he and Gaara had to go through.

"Don't even _'hi Kiba' _me you ass!" roared Kiba cleaning of the dust from his smoke enveloped clothes.

"What I do?" asked himself innocent Naruto as he walked up to the gang.

"Naruto, what did you do to the forest?" lectured the new-coming voice. Everyone turned around to great Iruka.

"Huh? Which one?"

Sighing everyone pointed at the empty landscape behind him.

Looking at the pointed direction Naruto eyed the boring scene of destroyed trees and huge holes here and there. He turned back to the group and grin, "Decorated!" he simply stated.

"You're too troublesome, Naruto." Widening his grin at Shikamaru's statement, Naruto then glanced at his lying _panda-_friend.

"Is he alright?" asked concerned Temari, also looking at her younger brother.

"Naaa…, he's already out of it!" smirked Naruto. He then jumped in front of a sitting form of Gaara and leaned forward to inspect him.

Taking an opening to a hand Gaara brought one of his legs up and kicked the _fox-boy_ into the stomach.

"Oof…!" Naruto went tumbling of the new-made-cliff he created with Gaara before their fight was discovered by the villagers, and finally crashed to the ground. Sensing Gaara's presence closing in, Naruto jumped from his previous lying spot to avoid whatever it is that Gaara tried to deliver him. Quickly maneuvering to face his opponent, he eyed the impressive hole Gaara 'dug out' with his fist at that very spot he was just a second ago. Looking back at Gaara he lazily asked, "You mad?"

"No… Happy!" sarcastically exclaimed Gaara and appeared before Naruto to punch him into his poor digestive-system. "My fucking finger is broke because of you, you bastard!" roared the _sand-demon_.

"Oh…, come on!" panted Naruto while holding his stomach. "It's just a… stupid… scratch," he weakly smiled while trying to dodge the angry creature's blows and gain some distance between them.

"… But he does use that power sometimes, doesn't he? I mean Naruto," asked Choji from his mouth full of chips, bringing their last conversation up again.

"You mean Kyuubi's chakra…? Yes, he does, but usually it is as the last alternative," answered Iruka carefully observing the fight.

The tension around the area could be now clearly sensed…, however not from fighters but from viewers, since they were very close to the dangerous and unsheltered place they could be simply hit by one of the sudden jutsus if not careful enough.

"When Naruto's 'endless' chakra ceases, which is very hard doable, Kyuubi's chakra is his second choice… up till now it is sealed in him," explained Iruka.

"But Kyuubi is dead…" started Tenten but was cut off.

"The chakra is sealed, not the Bijuu… anymore anyway. It would be impossible for such a small body to maintain so much given chakra if it ain't sealed," explained Kakashi, congratulating himself on understanding at least that much.

"How about now? Naruto is using that chakra in some of those jutsus, is he not?" asked Lee.

"Yes, that's because he is challenged against another demon…, it's a tradition," this time it was Kankuro who explained with Temari nodding to prove the point right.

"Kind of funny…, the demon of the hell giving away his own chakra to someone so easily," Asuma silently joked to Iruka, who then glared daggers at him.

"Yes…, but Naruto _isn't_ someone. And I doubt it had anything referring to the word_ easy_ for him in the past," informed angry Iruka but saddened at the last part of his words, remembering the terrifying scars and bruises on the little body of one blond-sunshine. _'He deserved that power and the fox gave it to him.'_

"Sorry," whispered Asuma, understanding.

"Um…H-how much chakra maintains in Kyuubi's p-power?" asked shy Hinata, looking through her _Byakugan_ catching some interesting moves the two 'brothers' were displaying.

"Three times the Naruto's power," answered the Academy-teacher going out of his deep thoughts of the past.

"In other words – _the ultimate killing machine_," stated Shino.

"I wouldn't put it in such a disrespectful sort of way," warned Neji not at all satisfied with the way the villagers treat his two friends…, and he's not the only one thinking that way…, the rest of 'brothers'' friends growled at the thought of the stupid-villagers as well.

"Hmm…, it looks like it will rain soon," informed Kankuro pointing at the black-clouded skies. Everyone looked at the sky and narrowed their eyes at the weird way the sudden changes in the weather accorded and the way those clouds moved… _'Kind a fast for such a breezing wind_'

"Why do I have the feeling that it has nothing to do with it?" whispered Neji.

"What are they doing?" abruptly asked Kiba, getting everyone's attention back to the fight.

Naruto and Gaara once again found themselves at a huge distance from one another.

Smirking Naruto kicked the ground hard with his right leg – the ground started to crush a quick line towards Gaara who absorbed the crack which stopped in front of his feet and then went its separate ways by forming a circle around him. Forcing his three tails into the cracked ground under his right leg, Naruto closed his eyes for concentration. Finally understanding what he's about to do Gaara jumped for what it's all worth. Suddenly three huge tails darted from the spot Gaara was standing on. Without any intent to stop there all three tails headed after the red-head. Bringing his sand up he tried to dodge and shield himself from the darting blades of red-chakra that easily went through his sand barely cutting him.

Naruto was still standing on the same spot, keeping his eyes closed he concentrated on Gaara's movements.

Slipping in his mind Gaara missed one of the tails and had no time to neither dodge nor escape it.

"Holly Shit! It's going for the kill!" yelled Kankuro along with Kiba ending the final sentence and freezing at the spot with everyone else who forgot how to breathe.

Changing its angle at the last second the tail didn't go for the deadly run-through but smacked Gaara's cheek instead causing the _sand_-nin to fall to the ground… hard.

"Getting old in your tracks, Gaara?" teased grinning Naruto.

"Only when you're around…, so you could have an upper hand," Gaara grinned back, making Naruto's eye twitch.

Before the _loud-mouth_ could start yelling or do anything else Gaara outstretched his right hand the whole way forward and opened his palm. Small yellow lines of sandy-yellow chakra poured out of his right shoulder and quickly twined themselves around his whole arm till the back of his palm was reached and they pierced themselves through it. And before anyone knew it, a yellow-blast-line was shot from his palm towards Naruto.

"You've got to be joking!"whispered shocked Naruto. Narrowing his eyebrows he quickly followed suit. Forcing a red-chakra out of his shoulder and into his palm, he shot a red-blast-line.

The two huge _blast-lines_ speeded towards the other.

"Oh, crap…" was the only thing going through the minds of all spectators.

Skies became black-clouded – just like before a huge storm enveloping the lands…

Two chakras made contact. A swirl went around the middle of the chakra-blast-lines before it ceased… and then a gigantic explosion-air-wave went off knocking everyone around the area off their feet with a fierce push.

Quickly going through their dazes, the viewers looked back at the beautiful yet deadly scenery before them.

The chakra-blast-lines were still in contact with each other as well as with the two 'brothers', who were forcing them to overpower the other. Digging their feet deeper into the earth for the support, 'brothers' were circled around one another's chakra by their feet, which speeded madly around them.

Naruto was now going for his sixth tail… When it came out – the twined slim chakra lines around his arm glowed brighter and started to twist the chakra faster out of his right shoulder and into the outstretched palm, thus giving the _blast-line_ more power…

The red-blast-line started to overpower Gaara's.

Bringing his free hand to his knee-level, Gaara summoned the deepest sand of the earth. A small crack cracked in the ground where Gaara's free hand was towering, and the darkest and deepest of the sand came out. Allowing it to crawl around his left hand, the sand went over Gaara's shoulders until it reached his right arm and invaded itself with his small twinning chakra lines around his whole hand. The sand went through the small chakra lines till it reached his palm and invaded itself in it.

By using sand's chakra he combines it with his own – creating a bigger force of the blast.

The yellow-blast-line evened Naruto's.

Wind started to pick its pace around the wide landscape.

The contact point between the two blasts sparkled with wild-life. No-one dared to breathe as thousands of wide-eyes reflected the alluring lights.

Gaara kept summoning the strongest sand he could get, trying as hard as he could to overpower Naruto's annoying stamina.

The seventh tail appeared.

"My god…" whispered Kurenai, "… look at that power."

All the Konoha11 along with two Sand siblings didn't know if their eyes could go any wider than they're going now.

It was becoming unbearable… the 'brothers'' hands started to shake…

Something was wrong… Naruto could no longer feel his chakra yet it still stormed from his body until it became unbearably painful. Wincing at the pain he glanced at his hand only to see it bleeding like crazy… _'… it hurts… so bad…'_

"GAARA, CEASE IT! NOW!" yelled desperate Naruto.

"I… CAN'T!" Gaara yelled back, finding himself in the same situation as Naruto.

Hearing that everyone tensed… "WHAT'S GOING ON?" yelled all the friends in one union.

"Their chakra… it went out of control," said trembling form of Iruka.

"Wha-…?" before anything could be asked… an unexpected blast of the two scraping chakras was heard. Bringing their attention back to now sensed tension between the 'brothers', everyone stared with worry as two figures were blasted out of their previous spots by their own chakras and were sent tumbling even farther from each other than they were before.

Bringing themselves to their shaking knees Naruto and Gaara looked at one another, but instead of the other 'brother' they were looking at a weird red-yellow moving swirls combined into a flying ball in the middle of the field where their chakra-blast-lines met. The four rings – of two red and two yellow – were swirling in place, flying 1meter above the ground and lazily circling in between and pass one another but never leaving or separating…

Slowly the two colors started to visibly merge into one – the orange color.

Silence spread through the whole area, everyone held their breaths waiting for something to happen.

Taking its pace and fully blending into the orange color – the now orange rings commenced to swirl blindly.

Naruto shortly bumped into one of his memories – when he was training for the _Rasengan_ and concentrated his chakra into the ball of air until it finally popped.

Blue eyes widened…

"RUN!" yelled Naruto to Gaara, but found himself incapable of doing that…

'_What a hell?!' _both of the 'brothers' couldn't move… their muscles cramped…

Before either could blink, orange rings disappeared, and out of that same spot, practically out of nowhere, the mixed orange chakra was shot back at the two shocked teens.

"Oh god," whispered the two 'brothers' in union before they were hit in the chests with the orange blur.

"AAAAAHHHhhhhhh…" painful screams came from the two Jinchuuriki.

Friends started to panic… "SOMEBODY DO SOMETHING!" frantically yelled the horrified girls.

"THAT THING CREATED A BARRIER AROUND THEM!" yelled Kakashi, overpowering the 'brothers'' loud screams.

Indeed - a huge moving orange chakra ring was formed around the two Jinchuuriki, burning everything it got in its way – fallen leafs, rocks, sand even.

Black-clouds beamed with the upcoming lightning. The circling chakra's energy enlarged the pace of the strong wind… everyone found themselves in the middle of the storm.

'Brothers'' screams became painfully piercing… The sound became like something inhuman.

No-one could move… the sound was somehow prohibiting their body to do so…

Falling on their knees covering their ears – the viewers thought they were about to vomit or fade from the sudden lack of blood in their heads. Tears were falling from its victims.

Kiba and his dog had to suffer the most; with his delicate sense of hearing… he could do nothing but scream himself in pain, "MAKE IT STOOOOOP!"

Hug orange-chakra-ring kept swirling and burning the ground around the still screaming Jinchuuriki.

It felt like hours, until, all of a sudden there was nothing – everything stopped – no screaming… no storm… no pain… not even a sound…

Thousands of shaking forms looked around before checking themselves for any signs of damage.

"W… Wha-… What just happen'?"

Coming back to their senses, everyone then started to look for the two specific 'brothers' – some of them out of desperation, the others out of fear for the loose _demons_. All eyes stopped at the spread smoke in the middle of the 'stadium'.

With a little help from the breezing wind smoke broke up.

"… … …"

"So…" a sudden and clear to everyone's ears came a smooth voice, "did you like the display?"

"…?!…" was going through hundreds of minds.

Smoke finally faded revealing two back-to-back standing figures – one grinning Naruto and one smug Gaara. The two mentally smirked at their agape audience.

"_Oh no you didn't!_" whispered fuming… well… everyone.

Naruto and Gaara suddenly burst out laughing… well Naruto did, while Gaara settled himself for the light chuckle.

"NARUTO!!!"

'_And there it is…'_ thought Naruto going through his laughs as everyone yelled and glared at him from their viewer 'seats' on the cliff.

"What did _I_ do again?" asked oh-so-innocent Naruto.

"DON'T EVEN TRY IT!" yelled rarely angry Kakashi with the rest joining soon.

"YOU… I CAN'T BELIE-… THIS ISN'T HAPPEN-… NARU-… SUCH A DRA-… I'LL SQUISH THE DAYLI-… GAAR-… YOU DID THAT ON PUR-… OH MY LOR-… YOU'RE DEA-… -BARK-BAR-… MOST YOUTHFU-… SHUT UP LEE… HOW COUL-… WAIT TILL I… !" that was the only thing 'brothers' could catch, since all of their friends yelled at the same time.

"Hey… you put it on yourselves. Who asked you to come, anyway?" said Naruto crossing his arms over his chest trying to pout and settle down the laughter behind his lips… still – failing miserably.

"Oh my god! Oh my god!" muttered Tsunade before she exploded, "OH MY GOD!!! I'LL KILL YOU TWO!"

Naruto opened his mouth to say something but was quickly cut off…

"OH NO! DON'T EVEN TRY AND THINK YOU'RE GETTING OUT OF THIS ONE!" warned Kurenai.

"YOU SCARED US…" yelled four girls from Konoha11 and one Sand-kunoichi showing of their fists.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?" glared Neji.

"GEEZ… YOU LITTLE-RATS! I'LL KILL YOU AFTER THE HOKAGE IS THROUGH WITH YOU!" yelled Kankuro scratching the air with his nails.

"I'LL BRING YOU BACK TO LIFE AND KILL YOU AGAIN…" Kakashi finding it kind a fun… joined.

"I'LL KILL YOU TWICE _AFTER_ THAT…" roared very angry Kiba.

"-BARK-BARK-" barked Akamaru.

"THAT'S RIGHT AKAMARU!" subconsciously yelled Kiba forgetting to lower his voice.

"NARUTO, GAARA – YOUR FLAMES OF YOUTH BURN BRIGHT TONIGHT… WELL DONE… WOHOOO!" cried Lee with proud Gai smiling and still crying by his side.

"What a drag…" breathing in relief, the twitching lazy-Shikamaru sighed at the scene while Choji searched for his chip-pack he dropped because of all the commotion earlier.

"That went better than expected," rubbing his neck, Naruto quietly said to Gaara.

"Hn," murmured Gaara.

"…NARUTO? NARUTO! YOU'RE NOT LISTENING TO ME! NARU-… AHH…, THAT'S IT! YOU ARE GROUNDED FOR A WEEK!" yelled Iruka.

"What?!" coming from his chatter with Gaara, Naruto was somewhat confused – _'Grounded…? Me? WHAT A HELL?! Why ME?'_ "But wait! What abou-…" Naruto tried to say something, but was cut off… again.

"…D-RANK MISSION FOR TWO WEEKS…" yelled Tsunade, taking Iruka's example.

"But…" he tried to say it again but to no avail.

"…AND NO RAMEN FOR THREE WEEKS!" yelled Ramen cook with a pouting daughter by his side.

'_No…ramen…? …no…! Why – why ME?' _"Oh, come on-…" he tried again…

"I'LL MAKE YOU POSE FOR MY RESEARCH FOR THAT!" yelled Jiraiya, stating his sentence kind of awkwardly, making everyone's sweat-drop.

"But what…?! No… wait… WHAT?! NO!" Naruto glared at the laughing _pervert_. "AAAHHH… SCREW YOU ALL! Why are you attacking only ME?!" yelled the fuming _fox-boy_ before pointing at his smirking best-friend, "Gaara is here TOO! I MEAN, COME ON!! THAT'S JUST AIN'T FAI-…" and yet his blabber was interrupted…

… As sudden lightning hit the ground between Naruto and Gaara, both scrambled from the now black spot decorating the ground they stood by.

'_Well how about that… now the forces of the nature are going against me?! WHY ME?'_

Glancing up Naruto received a wet drop in the eye; rain started to pour.

All of the fuming villagers quickly left the area to go and hide from the sudden rain.

"Well… that was quite entertaining. Never have I seen anything like that before," praised one of the feudal lords loud enough for the 'brothers' to hear him.

"Quite a unique display indeed, thank you for the incredible performance!" thanked the rest of the amazed feudal lords to the two 'brothers' who in return bowed to them.

"Alright, I'll deal with the two of you later," said Tsunade looking at the 'brothers'. "Everyone else assemble at my office in 5minutes," she ordered to every Jounin and Chunin. Glimpsing one more time back at the 'brothers' she smiled and shook her head before disappearing along with the rather satisfied feudal lords.

"See ya later, you brats!" said Konoha's11 old senseis, going between anger and amusement before disappearing into a puffs of smoke as well.

Iruka sighed and left, but not before giving Naruto 'the look' and a small smile to them both after that.

"Don't even think it's over!" playfully warned their smirking friends and followed their old senseis.

Grinning Naruto waved them off with Gaara who only nodded to them with a small smile.

"Great fight, boss!!" cheered Konohamaru along with his two friends, also satisfied with the chance to see a fight of a lifetime. "Get yourself a vacation one day and come training us!!"

"What a Hell kind of vacation would that be?" roared Naruto.

"Vacation – teach Konohamaru everything you know!!" grinned Konohamaru and ran off with his friends all the way waving back at Naruto and Gaara.

"Yeah, I'll give you a vacation…" murmured Naruto under his breath, "…a vacation you'll soon recall – _ten ways how to kill Konohamaru on your vacation_."

After everyone cleared the field, slowly Naruto and Gaara began to walk away themselves… but halt as something wrapped itself around their legs preventing them to go further.

"The Hell?!" cursed Naruto glaring back at the thing that's bothering him to live. Looking down on his feet, Naruto saw a black shadow like line tied around his right ankle. Following the source he eyed the black-spot that lightning shot a few minutes ago. Two black lines from the spot were holding Naruto and Gaara in their place.

"What is th-…" Gaara cut himself off as he saw something form from the corner of his eye. Looking up he eyed a now familiar form forming between him and his 'brother'.

"I thought that thing was gone for good," whispered Naruto.

The two 'brothers' were standing on either sides of the black-spot staring curiously at the slowly forming rings of orange chakra about a meter from their face, which were practically teasing them with its presence.

Without another warning the annoying thing shot its chakra at both 'brothers'' faces. "AAAHHhhhh…" Falling to the ground on their backs the two screamed in pain holding their faces.

Slowly the two black lines holding their ankles wrapped their way to the 'brothers'' stomachs and stick themselves above the boys' navels.

Arching their backs, Naruto and Gaara screamed their lungs out – it felt as if an ice cold blood was streaming through their veins with little needles cutting into the muscles.

Digging their fingers into the ground, they didn't notice the black-clouded sky forming a big swirl above them.

Tears streamed from the 'brothers' eyes as they felt their bones breaking – fingers… hands… legs… ribs… everything…

With one last animalistic scream from the two, lightning from the circling clouds shot at the black-spot that was now connecting itself with the two Jinchuuriki, thus forcing the lightning's shot into the boys' bodies.

After that shot, orange-chakra-rings were once again formed and flying above the black-spot.

'Brothers'' mouths were opened into a silent screams, eyes deeply shut with never-ending tears, hands were shaking like mad and gripping the sand under them.

Arching their backs one last time, red and yellow chakra-blast-lines suddenly shot from both teens' abdomens and hit straight at the orange-chakra-rings.

An enormous explosion went off through the whole forest – killing everything in a six kilometer radius.

* * *

Back in Konohagakure…

In the main hall Tsunade was going through some of her references about the Jounin-exam until something cut her off, "…and that's why I want you t-…" a terrifying but far fading animalistic screams made everyone froze.

Picking up the voice a bit better than others, Kiba quickly stormed to the hall's balcony only to step back out of shock.

"My lord…!" whispered the wide-eyed _dog-lover. _Intrigued Iruka, rest of Konoha11, their senseis, Sand siblings, two Sannin, some other Jounin and Chunin along with the feudal lords and their bodyguards went out on the rather big balcony to check the commotion of one _dog_-Jounin.

An enormous explosion was visibly seen storming through the forest, getting rid of everything on its way.

Above it – lightning was hitting the black sky with weird circling cloud above the newly-made fighting-arena Naruto and Gaara created.

"…brothers…" whispered all of the two Jinchuuriki's wide-eyed friends.

Blast was closing in to Konoha's walls. Sensing it, every villager froze in their pace, too shocked to move and breathe at the feeling of an enormous killer-wave coming their way…

Reaching the gates, explosion suddenly stopped about seven meters from Konoha's wall and retreated back.

The shaking guards by the gates sighed in big relief, since they were the closest witnesses to the most fearsome and unexpected experience imaginable in one's lifetime – facing a gigantic ball of death about four meters away from them.

Retrieving back the last of its energy, a hug ball of death's final light faded. A sound of echoing spark was heard before the after explosions wave went off speeding back with wilder force than the explosion itself…

'_No-no-no… my God… please no…' _prayed all of the shocked and frozen Jounin on the balcony, ignoring panicking screams from desperate civilians beneath them. Everything was now clearly visible because there was no forest to block the view anymore, thus showing the panicking-mob a good view of death storming their way…

"SECURE THE WALLS!" ordered Hokage to the four guards who winced, going out of the daze, and momentarily vanished to go and create a barrier around the village to prevent the blast's entrance.

The wave was quickly closing in; about twenty ninjas were now standing a good distance away from Konoha's walls and about 16meter distance from one another. Doing the last of the hand signs all twenty ninjas slammed their both palms to the ground – an invisible 70meter high and 330meter wide chakra barrier wall dug out of the earth.

Explosion wave rammed right into the barrier with fierce hit; at first it looked like it was stopped, but the wave's push still managed to break the barrier and do its damage on the village by breaking the entrance wall and destroying a couple of closest houses by the gates.

Huge relief washed over the villagers, thanking their gods for spared lives…

However, joy was the last thing going through the mind of the Fifth-Hokage…, without another word she disappeared.

'_Please… please be ok…' _prayed Tsunade as she ran to the place where Naruto and Gaara had to be. In last year's time, she got really attached to the two 'brothers'. Helping them every way she could, she began to think of them as her two sons. And if something is about to happen to either of the two she didn't know what good the life would be then… especially without Naruto, he was hers every day's light and hers savior from the dark-past.

Appearing at the previous fighting arena, Tsunade ran her eyes through the whole area. Next to her, shortly after, appeared Iruka, Jiraiya and the rest of the 'brothers'' friends.

"Scan the area!" ordered Tsunade.

Those with better tracking skills quickly began their search. Activating their bloodlines, Hinata and Neji searched the field for any signs of their two friends. Kiba sniffed the air with Akamaru trying to pick up a scent. Everything seemed burned. After some time looking back at Tsunade he slowly shook his head. Neji and Hinata were still scanning the distanced areas.

Nothing could be nor sensed nor seen – no life, no sense of any life, no chakra – nothing… until…

"There!" pointed Neji at the far middle of the demolished field.

Disappearing, Tsunade and the rest appeared at the said direction. Everyone stared at the three burned black-spots. Two of those spots were burning with slowly fading red and yellow chakras around the third spot in the middle.

Trembling hand found its way onto the _Fifth's_ mouth, _'N-no… no…it can't b-…' _tears started to pour from Tsunade's brown eyes.

Shaking the bad thoughts off, Kiba and Akamaru ran through the whole area trying to find anything else referring to the 'brothers'' presence. Neji and Hinata did the same – looking as far as they could they focused on the smallest things of life they could find.

Everyone else also assisted insofar as they could. Shino got the better upper-hand on it – by using his bugs and spreading them in all directions possible, he scanned the area quicker.

'…_nothing…'_

Seconds passed… minutes went… hour came… and slowly all four of them – Kiba, Shino, Neji and Hinata – returned to the group, avoiding all eyes of their friends.

"What…? WHAT?" asked scared Iruka, not wanting to admit the only conclusion they were all going through.

None of the four best trackers said anything… just stared down at the last two unusual and once very sparkling chakras which were now slowly fading, leaving nothing that would remind them of the two 'brothers'.

'…_I don't want to hear it… I don't want to say it…'_

Understanding the silent message glassy eyes of the Fifth-Hokage sadly looked at the still confused and not-wanting-to-admit-it Chunin.

"I-it's a joke right?!" asked weakly smiling Iruka but frowned as the rest kept quiet. "NARUTO! GAARA! ENOUGH! GET A HELL OUT HERE. THIS ISN'T FUNNY!"

"Iruka…" whispered Jiraiya, trying to calm the depressed teacher down.

Not wanting to hear anything he kept shouting, "…I SAID 'GET OUT HERE'… NOW!"

Sadly everyone bowed their heads shadowing their slowly forming teary eyes.

'…_I can't take it…'_

"Iruka please… they are…"

"NO! …no-No-NO!" screamed trembling form of Iruka, "…no…" Running his shaking fingers through his brown-hair he furiously yelled out, "NARUTO…"

"STOP IT IRUKA!" finally yelled teary Tsunade, "THAT'S ENOUGH! THEY'RE _GONE_. YOU SAW THAT EXPLOSION, THERE'S NO WAY ANYONE COUL-… "

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" screamed crying Chunin. "J… just shut up!" he whispered and fell to his knees, digging his nails into the thighs drawing out blood.

Biting their lips everyone averted their eyes as the _Fifth_ kneeled in front of the crushed Chunin and pulled him into a tight griping hug.

Taking deep breaths, Temari thought she would soon lose it…

'_Gaara… … no… I don't believe it… he couldn't… not him… not Gaara… not Naruto… not them…'_

Kankuro tried to comfort the shaking girl by his side, but she began to squirm every time he touched or tried to calm her. Without another word he quickly brought his sister into his arms.

Furiously kicking her brother's chest she tried to free herself but soon broke down and dug her face into Kankuro's neck while letting her eyes water freely.

Shikamaru didn't even notice himself crying as he stared at the spot the chakras were still weakly glowing.

Standing besides Shikamaru, Choji wasn't even trying to hide his tears; his pack of chips was long forgotten and lying on the ground.

Ino was trying to calm her best-friend down while wiping her own tears along with Sakura's…

'…_Naruto…'_

'_It can't be… you can't be gone…'_ thought Neji while holding crying Hinata in his hands. He himself felt a foreign wetness running down his pale-cheeks that he didn't feel since the death of his father. _'When was the last time I shed a tear? I never wanted it to be like this.'_

Kiba was standing distant from the others, facing them with his back. Holding his hands on his hips he was looking up at the now calm sky with remaining black-clouds, trying hard not to cry, _'…guess you did get out of your punishment after all… as always…' _chuckling at his own joke he then saddened, biting his lower lip he wiped his eyes.

Respectfully Shino took off his glasses, sadly eyeing the fading two chakras along with Tenten, teary looking Lee and four rather silent senseis.

Kakashi was going through mental beating, remembering all the times he had ignored Naruto and played favorites with his students, _'…Naruto… I am…'_ he was a fool.

'_What kind of a person am I…?!'_

'…_the least I could do was protect you…but…' _

'…_have I failed again?!'_

'…_I am sorry…'_

Stepping by his side Jiraiya placed a comforting hand on the lost Jounin's shoulder, "It's not your fault, Kakashi… Don't do this to yourself! You know that Naruto would never want that." Closing his visible eye Copy-ninja allowed a silver tear go down his right cheek.

'_Naruto…'_

Looking at the fading chakras, Jiraiya stepped forward. Retrieving two scrolls from his pockets, he kneeled by the red-chakra but stopped in his movements when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Please… allow me," pleaded Kakashi, his voice a bit broke and hoarse.

Without saying anything he stood in front of the Copy-ninja and handed him one of the scrolls. Taking it in his shaking hand Kakashi kneeled by the red-chakra with Jiraiya kneeling by the yellow.

Opening the scrolls at the same time they drew the sealing signs onto the two pieces of paper. Everyone slowly gathered closer around them keeping their eyes on the two scrolls. Jiraiya and Kakashi started making necessary hand signs for the sealing jutsu. Blue chakra slowly came from the scrolls' written words and gently gathered the remains of red and yellow chakra before forcing them into one scroll for each.

After the last of the 'brothers'' chakra was sealed – the two scrolls rolled themselves back and placed a beautiful demon sign with 'brothers'' names in them on top of the openings.

Smiling at the weird display of the two chakras, Jiraiya stood up along with Kakashi who was still looking at the scroll in his tightly gripping hands, and looked at the others that were yet to avert their own eyes from the two pieces of paper. Coming closer to the two Sand siblings, the Sannin outstretched his both hands and signed them to take the scroll out of his palms – the only reminder of their lost brother. Still tightly holding his sister, Kankuro reached out a trembling hand and took the scroll from the weakly smiling man.

Glancing back at everyone else, Jiraiya lightly bowed his head and disappeared into a puff of smoke. The rest of them quietly exchanged sad looks and closing their eyes little by little they followed the Sannin's example.

After the last of them left, Neji glanced into the sky and closed his eyes, "I really hope …I really do… that I'll see you again sometime." preparing to leave he turned to look over his shoulder to spot another person still unmoving…

"Come on Kiba. Let's go," said Neji, understanding that he also stayed a bit longer to say his final 'goodbyes'.

"Yeah…," Kiba whispered, going through his mind-talk with 'brothers'. Standing up he walked up to awaiting Neji.

Walking by his master's side, Akamaru suddenly stopped, turning around he started barking.

"What's wrong, boy?" asked Kiba rubbing his foggy eyes and kneeling by his white dog.

"What is it?" asked Hyuuga coming closer to them.

"Don' no?! Maybe he picked up on something!?" said Kiba, a little hope shining in his face.

"Hmm…"

A sound of thunder above them brought their attention to the sky. Looking up, two teens eyed a weird swirl of the black-clouds forming above them; Kiba and Neji remembered it from before…

"Isn't it the same thing that was going above this place at the time the explosion went off?" wondered Kiba.

Neji didn't reply just nodded his head, albeit Kiba didn't see it.

Something in those clouds shone bright before it was shot down on the two teens. Reflexively grabbing his dog, Kiba and Neji jumped out of the way. The light beam shot something into the ground, blowing a deep hole in it.

"The Hell is it with this day? Why does everything have to fall on us?!" roared Kiba.

Standing up, Neji made his way to the new, narrow yet quite deep hole… two to be exact. Coming by, he stared at the two smoke invaded holes not too far from one another.

"Lightning?!" wondered Kiba.

"Don't think so… lightning usually doesn't go this deep."

"Can you see through?"

"I'll check," replied Hyuuga and activated his bloodline. Looking through the smoke, Neji frowned and blinked a couple of times… then he rubbed his eyes… and finally – he visibly gasped, "B-but how?!"

"Hmm?" moving by his side, Kiba looked into the hole himself. And once the smoke cleared, his eyes bugged out. "Ok… you lost me," said wide-eyed Kiba.

* * *

_A/N_

_Tell me what you think so far and if there's anything that ain't fitting in…enlighten me!_

_Please review & let me know if I should continue…!?_


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

'_**Chapter 2'**_

* * *

Opening his darkly-azure eyes, Naruto felt as if a wall of Konoha was brought down on him.

Looking up, he began to try and blink out his fogged vision till he could finally form a blue blur above him – the sky.

Hissing at every failed attempt his body had to suffer when he tried to move, Naruto finally managed to sit up. Grabbing his forehead with one hand and supporting himself with the other, he froze still in order to calm his madly-spinning head. His vision slowly came back to normal…

…But as soon as one problem seemed to pass, the next one quickly stormed in its place. A sudden sickness fell over him… Breathing deeply, he groaned as he felt his stomach abruptly flip up… Taking deep-deep breaths Naruto couldn't hold it anymore – throwing his head aside he painfully vomited. His throat burned as the hot vomit burned and scratched the insides of his throat, thus making him soon begin to vomit his own blood out. Three or four minutes later it was finally over. Falling back on his back, Naruto shuddered as his lips trembled and the breathing came out cruelly hard and uneven… he could feel his whole throat bleeding from the inside.

Sighing, he closed his eyes. While mentally calming himself down, Naruto tried to remember what happened… His eyes suddenly shut open,

'_Gaara'_

Looking around his surroundings and wincing at every movement of his dazed head, he finally caught sight of his best-friend.

Gaara seemed to be unconscious.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto rolled onto his stomach and prepared to move. Bringing himself up on his elbows he took a few needful breaths of air before continued further. Hands underneath his weight were shaking like mad, but that didn't stop him from his determination. After awhile he finally succeeded in sitting up on his sore butt-cheeks. Taking a quick glance at Gaara, Naruto then looked down on his legs. Ordering his muscles to move he began to glare…as the legs didn't even budge. With the help of his shaking hands, he grabbed his one leg's thigh and quickly brought it up… a loud yelp suddenly came from the _fox-boy _and he almost fell back again.

Tightly gripping onto his thigh, Naruto tried to suppress the forming tears in his eyes, the muscles of his leg were cruelly hurting. It felt like they hadn't been used for months.

Hugging his stinging leg, Naruto then glanced at his right one…

"Ok…" breathing deeply he prepared himself and gripped his other leg's thigh. Quickly he brought it up.

"AAAHHhhhh… GOD-DAM IT! KILL ME!" cursed teary boy, feeling his muscles stretch painfully along with his burning throat because of the scream…

After a good ten minutes of painful suffering and calming, Naruto's breathing settled and he let his tight grip loosen from the numb thighs. Wiping away the tears and taking in more of the air, Naruto brought his both hands under the legs' thighs and while supporting them he gently began to outstretch his muscles, hissing every now and then as his muscles were stretched.

About an hour later, Naruto could sit on his knees. All sweaty and exhausted he dragged himself towards Gaara. After four minutes of long and still painful crawling on the knees, Naruto was finally by the red-head's side.

"Gaara…" Naruto's voice was really hoarse. When the red-head didn't respond Naruto lightly shook his shoulder…- nothing. Then he shook it as hard as he could, hissing at his own pain in the muscles…- still nothing. Unable to use his bleeding voice much, he abruptly came up with a fairly weird idea. Clapping Gaara's nose with his two fingers he prevented the air passages for the lying teen.

Squirming from the sudden lack of air, Gaara's eyes flung open; quickly turning his face aside he vomited the same way that Naruto did a long time ago.

Sighing in relief Naruto crawled closer to his friend and gently rubbed his back, trying hard to calm him down.

It felt like hours…as hours actually passed till Gaara finally regained some of the strength he had lost.

Breathing heavily, Gaara wiped off the dripping blood from the corner of his mouth. "Where 're we?" he asked looking around. As far as he could tell they were in the middle of a grassy field that was surrounded by trees…lots of them.

"Forest apparently," quietly and almost whispery answered Naruto, sitting by his side and looking up at the sky.

"Wha' happen'…?"

Shrugging, Naruto frowned, "I remember the _demon-lines_… when we shot them at one another…?! …There was that weird orange thin-…"

"I would say that that thing was our two blast-lines' creativity," low and tired voice of Gaara cut his friend.

"But it wasn't that way when we performed the _demon-lines_ all those other times."

Unaware of what more they could say both stayed quiet for a couple of minutes, feeling slightly relieved at the breezing wind which ran through their hair, thus cooling them down…

"How are your bones feelin'?" suddenly asked still quite uneven voice of Naruto's.

Bringing his hand up, inspecting it, Gaara whispered, "Fine, I guess… why?"

Clearing his throat that began to hurt again from all of the talking, Naruto thought for a moment before answering, "The second time we were blasted with that thing… I felt my bones crushing… one by one… till it reached my spine…, though I don't know what happened next… but the pain was unbearable…," Gaara curtly nodded signing him to continue. "…and when I finally woke up…, bones were all healed…, though the muscles were cramping as hell." confusion was written all over Naruto's face.

Understanding that as a silent question Gaara sighed, "You've must have healed them already. You do remember… that you posses that strange healing ability, don't you?"

"Yea…, but to heal such a detailed amount of broken bones… for me… it must take at least a month or two… and not to mention you…, who should be in a hospital under half a year's healing-schedule…"

"Your point?!"

"How long have we been unconscious then…? And… why didn't anything happen in that sort of time. Why weren't we attacked…, eaten or… whatever…?!"

"Maybe it all happened in our heads… the broken part I mean," shrugged Gaara, wincing at the pain in his throat. "Don't forget… the jutsus you and I are using aren't normal… and can have weird side effects… not to mention the payable damages to the body," Gaara growled at the last words as he spat more of his blood on the grass.

"Then where are all the… others…?" wondered abruptly saddened Naruto, thinking that maybe his friends dumped them as everyone else had…

Glanced at his worried best-friend from the corner of his eyes, Gaara scowled _'I hate that look.'_ Hesitantly bringing his heavy hand up Gaara slid it around Naruto's shoulder and pulled him a bit closer, quite unsure if this was the way how to comfort somebody…?!

Naruto momentarily relaxed his tense shoulders at the crassness of Gaara's hesitant touch, thus making Gaara inwardly breathe out a huge air of relieve.

"Any slight chance of us being teleported somewhere?" pondered Naruto.

"Hmm… could be," thought Gaara, "…actually… that would seem the most obvious thing… because of the sudden change in the landscape…," darting his eyes all over the place he exclaimed.

"Aa…" agreed the _fox-boy_.

Two more hours went pass as the two 'brothers' decided to take time and collect some more strength to those hurting muscles. No more words were exchanged… for both had abruptly fallen asleep…

* * *

Two scrolls were peacefully lying on top of Hokage's desk… All friends of the two 'brothers' were now gathered in the Fifth's office.

Tsunade was standing with both Jiraiya and Iruka by the window behind her desk looking at the mountain of previous Hokages. Kakashi was sitting on the opened window's sill on the right from Hokage's desk – hands in both pockets, visible eye staring at the now clear-blue sky that reminded him so much of… … …

By his side Kurenai was also looking through the window with Asuma and Gai leaning against the wall by both sides of the window – eyes closed and hands folded on the chest as if reading a quiet pray.

All of the Konoha11 – save Neji and Kiba – and two Sand siblings were all leaning through the opened windows on the left from Hokage's desk. As well as Kakashi, they were all looking at the sky, thinking about 'brothers'.

"We shall administer the ceremony tomorrow at midnight…" spoke Tsunade while keeping her gaze on the Fourth-Hokage's face in the mountain, "…the council of the Sunagakure will be here at tomorrow's morning. Brothers names shall be printed on the Memorial-stone in this village as the same shall be done back in Suna…" swallowing Tsunade continued, trying as hard as she could to make her voice more measurable, "…a-…and a new memorial-stone shall be placed in the walls of both Sand and Leaf… a-as a respectful gesture towards… …" Tsunade silenced herself by biting her lip, unable to say both 'brothers'' names out loud. Clearing her throat she prepared to continue, but was abruptly cut short…

"I don't think it would be anything of the necessary…" suddenly came a slightly quiet voice of Hyuuga Neji. No-one even noticed him and Kiba entering the room, no-one even dared to look at them… everyone was too far lost in their own memories about their two most precious friends…

…Although they never paid attention to it much, they had no idea that it would be so hard without them. The spent times, fights, laughs, disputes… – everything about the two always brought life to them all… they were something special to all their friends' hearts.

"And WHAT would be of the NECESSARY?" annoyed by everyone, hissed mad Tsunade; keeping her back to Neji and Kiba, she glared through the window.

"I suggest you keep your voice down!" quietly yet severely warned Neji.

Tsunade deeply frowned. "You are in no right to command me aroun-…"

"Am sorry Hokage-sama, but I will contravene this subject for now."

"You should now your place Hyuuga…"

"No need to jump to sudden accusation Hokage-sama, the least you could do now is turn around and hear what we have to say."

That got the needed attention on the Hyuuga. Everyone turned to face two boys standing in the middle of the room. Apparently Kiba and Neji weren't even paying attention to any of them, since both of their faces were down looking at something in their hands…

Confused and at the same time intrigued, Tsunade walked around her desk and approached both teens. The rest of Konoha11 with Sand siblings were looking at Hyuuga and Inuzuka from their spots by the windows; Jiraiya and Iruka followed the _Fifth's_ example after a couple of seconds; Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai and Gai decided to join the teens at the other end of the room and stayed at their previous places as well.

Carefully Neji and Kiba took the covers off of whatever it is that they're holding…

* * *

'_I thought you were my friend…'_

"_It isn't meaningless… you've become… my closest-friend…"_

'_Then why…?'_

"_To go beyond…"_

'_Why couldn't I…'_

"_It's too late… Naruto!" screamed Sasuke as he shoved _Chidori_ through Naruto's chest…_

"AAHh!!" Jumping up, Naruto reflexively griped a light hand shaking his shoulder; hearing a small hitch in someone's breath, Naruto's eyes shot open and he blinked repeatedly as he came face to face with Gaara.

"Easy-easy… it's ok! It was just a dream," reassuringly whispered Gaara, kneeling in front of gasping Naruto and lightly squeezing his shoulder with the free hand.

Calming down his harsh breathing, Naruto hesitantly let go off the other teen's hand and heavily sighed, lowering his head he stared at his shaking hands in his lap.

Studying the distressed _fox_ for a quiet-time, Gaara then quietly asked, "You can't forget… can't you?"

Naruto didn't answer, just leered at his hands for a while before closing his eyes and turning the head aside; showing Gaara a sorrowful gesture of his inner pain…

'_What has he done… what the pathetic Uchiha has done to you…' _Looking at Naruto's chest Gaara thought of a marking that Sasuke left… although Kyuubi did heal it – he still couldn't heal it the way it should be…

'_the wound to the heart'_

Closing his own eyes, Gaara inhaled the welcoming fresh air of the forest. "I recognize this smell," he said silently, trying to find a way to distract Naruto's mind from the mental pain he knew Naruto was feeling right now.

"'_Weakling'_…" he whispered opening his eyes to look at Naruto's half lidded ones that weren't even looking back at him. "…that was my first acknowledgment towards you. You were so frightened of me back then; lost in the deeps of the forest…trying everything you could to save your friends…"

'_There it is…' _mentally exclaimed Gaara once he saw Naruto give a little twitch at the corners of his lips, remembering their first 'lustrous' fight.

"I didn't expect anything from you. I didn't expect you to win… heck – I didn't expect you to even be able to touch me… yet you proved me so wrong – that it was extremely embarrassing," finally succeeding at cheering the boy up a little, Gaara sighed in relief as the blond looked at him smiling.

Staying quiet for a minute and mesmerizing each other's features, Gaara broke the silence, "What is it about you Naruto…that's getting everyone attached to you? … …What makes you special?!" he asked gently.

Naruto shook his head looking at Gaara in the eyes, as the other continued…

"Friendship… trust… belief… and joy… – something that is _so_ unreachable to the others. The ability to see _good_ in the most _worst_ of things does it make you so special."

Lowering his gaze, Naruto sadly smiled to the ground, for the first time in a long time feeling happy that someone is talking to him with so much care…, especially the one like Gaara.

"Sometimes I wonder…" continued the red-head, while, unaware himself, wiping a silver tear from the blond's check, "…do I deserve all that is given to me? All what _you_ gave me?"

'_Hope… you gave me hope…'_

"It made me see… _you_ made me see…. I think I understand now – even if just a little – what it is like… to be alive!"

'…_you saved me from myself, Naruto…'_

Looking back up, Naruto saw the softness in Gaara's eyes, something that only he could ever see in the red-head's presence – softness, care, tender and trust…

'…_you helped so many people… so many worthless soles… and yet none of that help was ever returned to the one sole which needed it the most.'_

"Tell me…, does anyone deserve your friendship, Naruto?" on the dead asked Gaara, voiced harsh and daring, "Does Sasuke deserve it? Do I deserve it? Does Konoha or Suna deserve it?"

'_No, Naruto… no-one deserves it… No-one deserves such blessing…' _closing his eyes Gaara shook his head.

"Brother," Naruto locking their gaze, all the way feeling joy spreading through him for actually addressing someone as his 'brother', "For what I know now…" reaching out he outstretched his hand's palm and signaled Gaara to take it, which he hesitantly did staring at their arms gripping one another until Naruto's words brought him back, "…you do."

Gaara's eyes slightly widened before closing shut and giving a small smile in return, "And that's what meters to me most…, brother," feeling his voice breaking, the red-head whispered, trying his best to hide the forming tears of… joy? …happiness? Gaara wasn't sure… but still – it was a good feeling.

As much as he tried to hide his unshed tears, the hawkeyed Naruto still saw it and gave a little chuckle. "Don't even try and hide from me. I saw that!"

"I was hoping you wouldn't see it," 'humph'-ed the red-head and rubbed his eyes, making Naruto, a bit painfully though, laugh even harder.

"You are such a fag…"

"Shut up," grumbled Gaara, but couldn't help and give a small chuckle himself.

"You wound me," rubbing his eyes, Naruto finally managed to swallow his laughter and put on a serious expression as his gaze fell on their position. "How are you feeling? Are ya able to walk?" he asked.

"Think so…" Gaara shrugged and pushed himself up to his feet.

Taking a tired breath, both teens stood up and gently outstretched themselves, feeling their muscles functioning back to normal, though still stinging a little.

Glancing at his 'brother', Gaara's eyes hardened and he abruptly spoke with seriousness in his voice, "No matter what might the past hold, I want you to remember this…" locking deep-blue with deep-green eyes, he said, "…you are not alone anymore."

Searching Gaara's eyes for a moment, Naruto then smiled, "Some-things Gaara, are always better left unsaid."

"Then I guess it is time to finally let those past ties dissolve," rising his invisible eyebrow in question, Gaara asked his best-friend and unspoken question to the blond's painful memories and past's broken ties…

'_Do you now understand that you owe nothing to no-one? Do you understand that there will always be people who care for you? Do you understand that Sasuke doesn't deserve your sorrow and felt pain…? …He deserves nothing from you.'_

Tilting his head and smiling freely, Naruto nodded. "Thank you, Gaara! For everything." said the blond, bowing his head respectfully.

Sighing at the lame and so-not-Naruto gesture, Gaara came closer and pulled the blond into a brotherly hug.

"Fag," whispered grinning Naruto to Gaara's ear.

'_Leave it to Naruto to ruin the moment.'_ "One more word and I'll bury you under the sand!" growled Gaara, still holding his 'brother' into a tight hug, who only chuckled and hugged the red-head back.

* * *

Two limping figures slowly walked through the deep forest; though the day seemed to be sunny, the forest still felt dark.

"Man, where on earth are we? We've been walking for…what? …hours?" whined the _fox-boy_, finally regaining his full voice and annoying Gaara with it.

"Minutes actually…, you're just tired and slow your mind down for being impatient."

"_Impatient_…," snarled Naruto, "I'm dying of thirst here!" roared the blond.

Rolling his eyes Gaara stopped, though he couldn't complain at the winning boy, he himself was all dry out. "I'll see if I have some chakra left to search the ground for the closest water source," informed Gaara and kneeled to the ground. Forcing some of his chakra out, which appeared to be rather difficult and painful, he merged it with the sand and searched the earth for the inner water which could be closest to the surface.

"Stop!" quietly urged Naruto, making Gaara jump at the sudden regard.

"What?!" asked red-head looking up at Naruto only to see him darting his eyes everywhere he could. "What is it?" Gaara became impatient and confused.

"Don't you feel it?" asked the blond not taking his far look out of sight.

Sniffing the air Gaara shrug, "The forest?"

Glimpsing at him askew, Naruto quietly hissed, "Presence…"

Narrowing his eyes, the red-head stood back up and limped closer to the blond, pressing his back to his, he eyed the area behind Naruto. "Where's the strongest scent coming from?"

"At your side," exclaimed Naruto, all the way sniffing the air for anything else.

Looking around the red-head stopped… "Found 'im," informed Gaara, feeling Naruto turn around and look over his shoulder.

Practically in front of them – about five meters away – stood a tall man, with loose shoulder-long, brown hair, wearing black boots with black glasses and a long purple overcoat. The man was smiling… no – smirking at the two boys before his eyes.

"Why Hello there! May I help you in some way?" the man asked with suspicious sweetness.

Taking Gaara's shoulder protectively and making him take one step back, Naruto emotionlessly answered to the man, "No, thank you, we'll be on our way now."

Narrowing his green eyes in a silent question, Gaara glimpsed at Naruto from the corner of his eye.

"Don't come near him!" quietly warned the blond, "He was hiding all the way from us until he realized we sensed him. He's gripping a metal under his coat."

'…_knife…' _understood Gaara the referred name of the 'metal'.

"What's the rush? I'm just trying to help you out is all," smirked the too self-satisfied man, bringing both boys' attentions back to him.

"I said thanks! We don't need it!" said Naruto, sounding as polite as he could get.

"Why so nervous? You're running from something?"

"Even if so, you have no business in it!" annoyed by the man, Naruto growled.

"Oh… but what if I do?" teasingly challenged the man.

"Then it's too bad for _you_," glared the blond.

"Careful with that tongue, shrimp! Or I might bite it off," grinned the proud man.

'_Perverted geezer…' _mumbled both teens.

"I doubt you even _could_…"

Ceasing his grin the man frowned and hissed at the blond, "Are you mocking me, boy?"

"Took you long enough to find that out!" glaring daggers now at the man answered Naruto.

The man's grin appeared back and he gave a light but dark laugh. "Intriguing," he said, eyeing the teens up and down. "You know…you two seem kind a good looking; even I could have mistaken you both for girls if it weren't for your voice… and you wouldn't want to know what would've happen after."

"Should we feel intimidated by it in any way?" lazily asked Naruto.

"No – now you should…" said the man as suddenly thousands of needles practically out of nowhere darted from all sides towards Naruto and Gaara… however, in the end, none of them got even near the two 'brothers'.

The man's mouth flew agape and his glasses slid off, as he eyed small rings of sand holding each needle in one ring.

Without a second thought, the man gasped as he was slammed to the ground by a huge pile of sand.

"What a…?! How did you…? GET THIS THING OFF ME!" he screamed as Gaara experimentally started to tighten the sand's hold on him.

"Please… please… let me go! I'll do everything you'll ask…" pleaded the pathetic man.

"Little bit too late for an apology," coldly stated Gaara and pressed his two last fingers into his palm.

"No… no… please… don't do this… I'm… AAAAaahhhhh…" screamed the man as his legs were compressed under the pressure of the sand and finally cracked.

Letting the sand go, teens eyed the man crying in pain for his cruelly broken legs. Blood was soaking through his pants with a white bone sticking out of his left legs shank, visibly through the fabric.

"Unusual for you to do so… I thought you were going to kill him," Naruto directed his attention to Gaara.

"I would, but I don't have any more strength at the moment," quietly whispered Gaara, in case there's anyone else nearby.

Looking at the crying man, Naruto abruptly frowned, "Something ain't right with that thing." Eying the squirming form for a minute or two he then angrily growled, "A blood-clone."

Catching Naruto's call, Gaara carefully glance around the forest and came to stand by his friend, urging him to move, "Come on, we should get out of here as soon as possible. We're in no condition to fight right now."

"Aa…" agreed the blond and ripping his stare from the squirming clone he followed Gaara.

"Where do you think you're going, my pretties? The night is still ahead…," suddenly came an all direction voice of that man, making the teens stop in their tracks.

"Coward!" growled the 'brothers' and searched frantically around for the hiding man.

"Just a fair warning – if you can use your weapon well, try and learn its all weak spots next time!"

Just then, two needles darted from underground and went through the teens' feet. Bringing their legs up a little too late, the 'brothers' groaned as the poison was already in and spreading around their bodies…

Wincing at the foreign virus in the blood and a fast spreading pain, Naruto and Gaara dropped to the ground. Their bodies were way too tired to fight back; the least 'brothers' could do was _dare_ themselves to fall asleep.

Five-hour-ago healed muscles and bones were once again falling victim to the familiar pain which quickly came back and punched them into the unconsciousness.

"The _master_ of the sand can't even predict the needles coming from the underground? Tsk-tsk-tsk… shame on me for getting fooled once, shame on you for getting fooled twice." Laughed the hiding man as everything blacked out for the boys…

* * *

_A/N_

_Thanks to everyone for the first reviews! _

_I hope I made it interesting so far… since it's my first written story & am not quite used to good writing… _

_In other words – please don't jump me if I make some mistakes in grammar, unwelcoming upturns in the story or sth of the sort… _

_Anyway, thanks again & till next time…_

* * *


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

'_**Chapter 3'**_

* * *

"Wake him!"

Something wet and cold abruptly splashed on Naruto's face. Jumping from his sleep, Naruto coughed under a huge amount of water suddenly splashing onto his face and into his mouth. Turning on his stomach and leaning against the elbows, Naruto rested the aching forehead against his arms and re-caught his breath for the lost air.

After settling the spinning vision at ease, only then did he feel shackles clenched around his forearms. Glancing at his hands he saw a long chain tied in between the cuffs and going underneath his body.

Growling in his throat, Naruto pushed himself up and sat on the cold floor, leaning his back against the wall where the other end of the chain seemed to be fixed to.

'_Must be in the dungeon of the sort…'_

Opening tired eyes, Naruto glared at the black-form which has been leering at him ever since he woke up.

Blinking the slight blur from his vision, he saw another form emerging from the shadowed corner of what appears to be a cell – square, little, dark room with caged door and a torch hanging above Naruto's head lighting his thin-body.

"Hmm, you know… it's not very often to see someone with such alluring eyes as yours or your friend's. Maybe you wouldn't mind me looking at them while I go through some… _tests_?!" Naruto couldn't see it but there was a definite wicked-smile going through the shadowed man's face that practically annoyed Naruto till the grave.

Keeping quiet, Naruto only had one thought going through his entire mind… "Where's my friend?" emotionlessly and deeply, yet calmly, he asked.

"So impolite…" sarcastically exclaimed the shadowed-man. "I've just complimented you on your beautiful eyes. How about showing me some gratitude?" the smirk was glowing through that smug voice, Naruto could clearly 'hear' him do that.

"Maybe I would… if you wouldn't have chained me in the first place," keeping his cool answered the blond.

"Ah… well that's a bit different," rubbing his chin the shadowed-man stepped into the light.

The man was tall, about 40-years-old, wearing white overcoat with purple pants, boots and a purple jacket underneath it. His hair was matching his clothes – only a bit darker purple – tied into a short, loose tail behind. Eyes were like little black dots, and his nose reminded a character from little books – Pinocchio.

"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Amachi, I'm an underground medical-scientist in the Lands of the Sea." arrogantly introduced the shadowed-man.

'_The Land of the Sea?!' _frowned Naruto, wondering why he and Gaara were teleported this far from the Fire country?!

"Not to be too rude, but mind you telling me why were you and your friend found walking through the most dangerous area of this land's forest?" asked the man, but seemed to be not at all fairly interested in finding that out.

"Mind _you_ telling _me_ why your idiot of a slave over there attacked us?" Naruto shot back, nodding his head towards the man with dark glasses standing next to the medic and tightly gripping the bucket of water's handle, apparently dissatisfied with the blond's comment. Naruto remembered him as the one in the forest Gaara _almost_ squished – _'shame that it was only a decoy'_.

Amachi chuckled a bit. "Yoroi over here was just doing guarding duties," dismissingly said the medic placing a hand on his assistants shoulder while he addressed him.

'_Is that so?!' _annoyed Naruto narrowed his eyebrows. "Then would you mind explaining me why did your _guardian _had the full intend to go for an attack attempts towards two travelers? Not to mention the full conception of kidnapping…, apparently?!" staring at the impulse medic, spat Naruto, trying to lie himself somehow through.

"Wouldn't be much of a hobbit to find two _usual _travelerswalking the darkest places of the forest just for a visit about three miles away from the nearest town caring no bags, no food, no water … would you not say?" Amachi moved closer and kneeled in front of the teen, studying his every feature. "But aside with that…" before he could continue a loud scream suddenly echoed through the dungeon's walls which made Naruto grew pale.

'_Gaara…' _Growling low Naruto glared at the apparently quite satisfied medic in front of him. "Where's my friend? What are you doing to him?" he asked promising death in that simple sentence if he will hear something he won't like.

Instead of an answer, the medic offered a smirk. "You know…my eyes had seen lots of things in this strange world, but never once did I come across a subject as stimulating as you or your friend there." He said, nodding with his head at the distant shouts. "There's something about the two of you that intrigues me greatly… – beautiful face, pointy ears, savage yet delicate fangs gracing your teeth…. You two aren't usual humans… or maybe not even humans at all, yes?!" rooming his eyes all around Naruto's body, Amachi chuckled. "It would be a great shame to let something like you pass by without a good …_examination_… first."

Receiving no reaction other than venomous looks, the man stood up and placed his hands in both pockets, smiling down at the teen, "Actually if we talk about science, I'd have to say that apart from you your friend seems to be an incredibly strong _traveler_. Has the ability to control sand…, very interesting if I did not know better. It even protects the boy – our specialists can't touch him in his sleep." Shrugging his shoulders, the medic then smirked at Naruto, "That is why we are forced to take our hardest measures at hand," Naruto blinked at that which caused Amachi grin widely, "Now we're simply poisoning him…; Draining him of his strength till the finest drop of that chakra shall leave his body and we will _finally_ be able to cut his ski-…" giving him no chance to finish that sentence, Naruto broke the chain from the wall and lunged forward onto the sick man; in a flash he had the long chain wrapped around Amachi's neck and started chocking him with vice grip.

Rushing in assistance, Yoroi was by Naruto's side in an instant and knocked him out by hitting one of the most sensitive pressure points.

"L…little b-bitch…," holding his painfully bruised neck panted Amachi as he quickly crawled back and away from the lying boy.

"Lock the doors! He'll get his treatment soon… just like his friend," ordered the medic, taking in one last glance at the teen before heading to the door.

"A bitch, ha?!" suddenly came a darkly amused voice. The medic and his assistant froze in their pace as the cell was abruptly echoed by a deep chuckle coming from the 'knocked' teen.

Slowly turning around they were greeted with now standing blond's back. Naruto kept his sadistic smirk on as he calmly turned to face the two wide-eyed men.

'_How can this be? I feel no chakra in him at all…, let alone big enough for him to live,' _thought Yoroi, _'He should be out cold, yet he's still…'_

'_What are these things?!'_

"Maybe you would like to see… how bitchy I could be!?" taking his time, Naruto slowly out-spoke each of the words with its own pleasurable sadism…

Before Yoroi could undress what happened he's neck was entwined with a cold chain and in a next second's time he was slammed against the wall with so much force that his life blacked in an instant.

'_Sorry Gaara… I guess you won't be the one to break his final bones after all.'_

Hearing the cell door get slammed, Naruto turned his gaze from the lifeless, bleeding body by the wall to see Amachi closing the lock with shaking hands that couldn't get the right hold of the key.

Tilting his head, Naruto watched with amusement as the terrified medic finally came up with the right key and desperately tried to get it into the locker.

'_Oh for pity sake…' _rolling his eyes, Naruto took his time as he slowly advanced the trembling man, just for the fun and a heck of it.

The cell was finally locked and the medic shakily sighed before laughing at him with huge relief in his eyes.

'_Moron!' _inwardly sighed Naruto, stopping just as the cell was locked.

"So… what are you planning on doing now?!" teased Amachi, causing Naruto to arch his golden eyebrow,

'_Quite a tough guy once you're out of reach, aren't you?! But don't worry… as you said yourself – you'll get yours soon enough…' _leaving his emotions flat, Naruto already thought of thousand deaths for the sorry-of-a-man in front of him, right now he just wanted to give him some time before he shall kill him.

"The caged bird is nothing more than a decor for the house…" entertaining himself, smirked the medic, "I guess you'll be able to keep this place pretty at some way with your presence." Chuckling, the said man left after reminding, "Oh, and by the way – don't bother to break the cage, it's protected by a strong chakra barrier. Ta-ta." Waving his hand Amachi vanished in the long, dark corridor.

'_He doesn't even care for his own men,' _scowled Naruto looking at the dead man in his cell.

Another scream echoed through the halls.

'_Gaara…'_

Narrowing his eyebrows at the dead Yoroi, Naruto searched him for weapons…but in the end finding none. Glancing at his hands, Naruto broke the cuffs around his both wrists and yanked the long chain away from them, _'guess this will do.'_ Turning then around he was about to break through until he came face to face with two more men at the other side of the cell.

"I spy a runt in my eye," cheerfully yet sadistically chirped the man on the right.

Naruto's expression showed nothing, just stared at the two unlucky fools whose fate was soon to be sealed by the 14-year-old. Unfortunately for them – they haven't noticed that Naruto was free from his cuffs and had one of their dead friends 'resting' behind his back.

"See this?!" bringing his hand up, grinned the man on the left, showing Naruto a long needle with dripping liquid at its pointed end, trying to scare the boy with it.

Naruto merely eyed the needle with boredom.

Considering it as a hidden fear, both men chuckled, "Oh there is no need to worry – it's just a drug Amachi wanted us to deliver you. Unfortunately it won't be long till he'll come after you, but until then _we'll_ be taking good care of your _body_."

"Shame that it won't be as pleasurable as hearing you scream and beg while we take you, but I guess it's better than nothing," finished the one on the right and smirked at the other, who laughed at the comment.

"You can go first. I will hold him down. But be quick about it," chuckled the man on the right and brought out a key to open the cell.

Pissed, Naruto gripped the chain in his hands tighter and quickly marched towards the bars – bringing abruptly his right leg up, he forcefully kicked the metal cell-doors with such force that it caused half off the stone-wall that's been supporting the bars to go down along with it. The chakra barrier didn't even withstand against Naruto's inhuman one as it was crushed under its pressure.

Shocked, both men quickly jumped away from being crushed to death by a falling ton of metal that was slammed against the floor with such force that the floor cracked.

The man holding a hype came out of his shock as the object in his hands was suddenly taken away from him and as he looked up all he could see was the blond teen wave the hype right pass his throat – slitting it open – before stabbing it right into his heart afterwards.

The second man gasped as his partner fell to the ground and then he felt something suddenly grab his neck in a tight hold. Looking wild-eyed down, he saw that same teen glaring up at him. Out of panic, the man took one of his spare needles from within his coat and stabbed the boy in the arm that was choking him to death, hoping that it will let the boy's grip loose, but that didn't even seem to faze the blond as he's eye only gave a little twitch and he scowled before clenching his throat even tighter before snapping it to the side…

Letting the deadweight fall loudly to the ground, Naruto ripped out the annoying needle and threw it carelessly to the ground. Not caring for anything else but a mere red-head, the blond turned his back and loudly dragging the long chain behind himself disappeared into the dungeon's shadows.

* * *

Casually entering the experiment-room, Amachi went over to Misumi – his other assistant and bodyguard, "Status?!"

"He's rejecting the drug like steal," replied Misumi writing test-data in his notebook near the lying form on a surgery-table.

"So it doesn't go through?!" concluded the medic.

"His chakra is at minimum now, but his body still fights against." Checking on red-head's pulse informed his assistant.

"Increase the dose then!" ordered Amachi.

"In his current condition it might kill him," looking at his boss warned Misumi as he put the notes aside and went to prepare the drug.

"It might… it might not!? We won't know until we try," Amachi shrugged as he turned to the table with operation equipments on it, "However, I doubt that it might be so easy to kill him, knowing fully well how he's been holding up so far. And besides…" he took a scalpel, "…we do have another one anyway."

Shrugging, Misumi turned back to drug-mixing.

'_Naruto…' _Gaara was currently lying on the surgery table, barely necked and striped of his clothes, leaving only his pants on. His hands and legs were sealed, chained and cuffed so he couldn't use them during their experiments.

He could hear everything that's happening in the room, though he couldn't see. Trying as hard as he could, Gaara just couldn't open his abruptly heavy eyes, unless someone helping him in doing that. He was too tired…

All night they've been forcing him to drink dazed-water, leaving him up to no choice – apart from death if he wouldn't have anything helping to circulate his blood.

Slowly his chakra was drained till the amount of two percent… There was no time left for a repose as tens of different hypes were stabbed in his veins – going from one experiment to the other…, however they all backfired, leaving them with the last test – the cutting procedure.

Staining his hands with blood almost his entire life… it might have been weird but… Gaara was very afraid of his own blood. Sure there were times when he got cuts and scratches on himself once or twice from his opponents that were able to get through to him; however minor injuries were nothing compared to what he felt like coming for him in about next minutes…

Gaara could feel his sand shield try and protect its carrier, but just couldn't get fast enough. He was done…

Amachi stabbed the red-head's left arm's vein with the mixed portion his assistant handed him. "There, this should do it!" smirked the medic.

Gaara stirred in his pose as he felt the foreign liquid spread through his entire system. It went through his whole hand, brushed the veins till it circled the heart…

"Ahh-AAahhh…" Gaara arched his back, he felt like something squeezing and cutting the very middle of his pulsing life-line.

Gaara screamed and screamed again… the very last strength was put in this one desperate scream, till it passed him out.

Satisfied with the result, Amachi turned to his partner, "Misumi! Go prepare everything for the blond. I don't think I will be long with our first subject over here. I have an ache to compeer them both."

"Yes sir," obediently said Misumi as he finished the last of his final notes and left the room.

Taking the scalpel in his right hand, Amachi absorbed it for some time till he moved forward, whispering, "Finally, let's take a look what you've got under that flesh."

Filling the room with his sadistic laughter just for the warm up and his own excitement…, Amachi soon turned it into a very painful yells and screams…

…as suddenly something deeply and sharply sliced his whole back – going all the way from his left hip-bone till his right-shoulder with one move. Screaming his lungs out, Amachi got silenced under his own coughed breath once he was stabbed with the same sharp-object in his right-thigh.

Turning his head around, while desperately trying to hold or grab or do anything to stop his bleeding thigh, Amachi was backhanded with a painfully hard hand at his right-cheek.

Falling to the ground he arched his brutally 'decorated' back from the pressured pain he was forced to fall upon. Opening his eyes he was greeted with a swung end of the chain to his left-side of the face. His head was thrown aside from the impact. Spitting some of the blood, he once again tried to open his eyes, only to find out that his left-eye is no longer functioning.

His bloodied-back was screaming for him to get up, but a sudden foot to his chest prohibited it from happening. Instead, the foot was being weighed by the forced mass onto it, thus breaking the victim's two-three ribs under it; slowly and for someone's-eyes satisfactory…

The medic felt his predator lean forward to his face till his breath was ghosting against the skin.

"The cut-bruises on your wretched-face are nothing more than a decor for your pathetic-body… I guess you'll be able to keep this dead-weight of yours pretty at the time your death comes…" hissed the darkly disgusted yet cruelly-amused voice; the sentence reminded Amachi of the words he once used when referring his last encounter with a certain blond boy, though these words were completely twisted to the opposite. Opening his painfully-twitching eye, Amachi saw deep-blue-emotionless ones staring back at him.

Drawing back from his face, Amachi's predator stood above him, with one leg still on his chest, and started to swing something in his right-hand's grip. Amachi's ill vision made it out as what appeared to be a swinging rope. However, as he sharpened his ears, the medic could hear the swinging cling of metal going faster and heavier with each swing.

'…_a chain…'_

Finally addressing what's about to come, Amachi opened his mouth – about to scream – but couldn't as the hard metal was forcefully brought down on his face – crushing the scalp and killing him in an instant…

"Fool…"

_

* * *

_

"…ar… ra…"

'_Who…?!'_

"Ga… ra…" he could hear voice… distant voice calling…

"Gaar…aa…a…"

'_That voice…'_

"Gaara…"

'_Naruto…' _trying as hard as he could, Gaara wanted to bring himself to responds…

"Can you hear me?!" concern and warmth flew through that slightly comforting voice he knew all too well.

"Na… to…" answer came as a low-low whisper – barely hearable.

A deep sigh of relief and held breath combined escaped his best-friend, making him inwardly smile. He wished to say something…

"N-no, don't speak," he felt three fingers press against his lips, silencing him in a quiet gesture. "I'm gonna get us out of here."

Calmly exhaling the minimum of his own left breath, Gaara felt really-really happy to hear his friend… – hear and feel him.

Next he heard was the slight cling of metals rubbing against each other, he concluded that Naruto was breaking or opening the locks, though it didn't matter to him – the important thing was that…

'_He's really here…and he's alright…'_

"Come on," Gaara felt tender hands going under his knees and around his back, slowly he felt himself being carefully lifted up into a strong and warmly comforting two arms. Giving a small inward smile, Gaara drifted off to safe sleep…

Naruto looked at the sleeping red-head in his hands and gave a small smile himself, feeling more than just relieved to see him ok. But that smile was wiped off the minute he felt presence closing in. Securing and tightening his hold, Naruto turned around to meet a newcomer.

Opening the door, Misumi stepped in – tall, pale man, about 30-years-old, spiky-brown hair, wearing spectacles, sleeveless-brown shirt along with brown finger-gloves and light-green pants.

Locking his eyes with deep-blue, the man quickly pondered something in his head before boringly scanned the room. Inwardly smirking he looked back at the teen holding the other one.

"I see you finally got rid of him?!" forming a plan, said Misumi, nodding towards the dead medic.

Arching an eyebrow in question, Naruto played along, "And you must be…?"

"Misumi, I am a ninja of the Mist, assigned a spy mission in gathering information on Amachi and his experiments." smugly introduced the man, as he put his hands in both pockets.

Not moving an inch, Naruto carefully looked him over, _'you are lying…!'_

"You don't believe me, do you?" asked Misumi, catching the blond's suspicion.

"I never saw you in my life, what's there to believe?!" emotionlessly replied the blond.

Misumi arched his own brow in question; trying to seem as if considering it a no-big-deal, but inwardly was trying as hard as he could to suppress the forming sweat at his temples for being discovered out. _'Sly child. It'll be hard to fool him.'_

Sensing the stress, Naruto tightened his hold on Gaara harder before dryly saying, "You're quite perfidious for a spy…; tell me – who gives information out bluntly to anyone right away?"

Quietly swallowing, Misumi started to fish something deeper into his pockets. "The art of espionage is always a riddle, boy. Cross can be sooner formed into a double-cross. You may never know who you can trust – there are times we must pass a resolution… even if it is a risk."

Ignoring the small shiver in the man's pocket, Naruto sighed. "Very well… I'll risk," replied the blond making Misumi smirk at the easy boy… that is before the next question.

"But… before we go any further… Show me your tattoo!" still showing a flat expression ordered the teen.

"T-tatoo!?" Misumu tried to hide his doubts and stutter.

"As a spy for long-term mission as such you must be an Anbu. Show me the symbol!"

Lowering his head, Misumi smirked, taking his hands out of the pockets. "Hn, it was worth to try… shame it didn't work," without saying anything more, Misumi threw a bottle of liquid to the air above the teen's face and with perfect aim threw the needle after it – hitting the bottle he caused it to explode near the blond's face and splash the burning liquid to the eyes.

Closing his liquid intact eyes, Naruto lost a bit of his balance but restrained himself from dropping Gaara. "Shit!" Quickly straightening himself back, Naruto forced himself to open his blurry eyes.

Taking more needles out, Misumi leap at the blond through the thick smoke he created. Catching the movements of black image forming through the smoke, Misumi smirked as he closed in to the two boys.

'_Like hell you are!' _frowning Naruto forced one of his chakra-tails out, since his hands were 'full' with Gaara.

Just when Misumi was about two meters from his target he was greeted with a red-blur speeding towards him. "The Fuck is this?!" cursed wide-eyed nin before he was abruptly hit and slammed back through the door he came in.

Having no will in stopping there and giving no time to adjust Misumi his pain, the red-chakra-tail surrounded the lying form's feet and yanked him to the opposite wall, passing the teens and crashing the nin with full might through the wall – straight into the dungeon behind that wall, scaring the hell out of the prisoners in it as the sudden body crushed right into their locked cell-door.

Glancing from the corner of his watery-red eyes, Naruto released the now dead-body he finished by crushing under the forced pressure of the tail, and deeply scowled as he saw the shaking forms of dumbstruck men, women and children peek out.

'_Bastards,' _frowned Naruto, referring to the slimy-scientists. Spinning the chakra-tail around the bars, he yanked the doors out, burning the weak-barrier along with it.

"Release the other prisoners and get out!" shortly commanded Naruto and walked out, searching for an exit.

Looking at one another, confused and shocked people then heard a blast followed by a slight shake of the dungeon. Running through broken bars and the hole Misumi got slammed over, prisoners got to the door the teens disappeared to. Peeping out, they eyed a long corridor at the corner of the same door with a welcoming light at the very end – shining through the new huge opening.

"We're free…"

_

* * *

_

"Pedophiles, bastards, morons, fuckers, fuckin'-idiots…" cursed and cursed a very unhappy blond, as he finally found a 'nearby' river, about 1/2 of a mile from the bloody-dungeons, and started to clean and heal his poor-stingy eyes. Gaara was lying near him.

Spiting Naruto cleaned his mouth, drank and washed. Sitting down he calmed his unsteady breath and turned to look at his friend. He had slightly cleaned him as well and fed him some of the water in the red-head's sleep.

Biting his lower lip Naruto subconsciously tapped his feet, getting more than just nervous at Gaara's current condition. Looking back and forth, around the thick forest he found the river in, Naruto waited…

After two hour long waiting, Naruto was ready to give himself off to sleep when the long awaited stirring of his red-headed friend came to an eye.

Blinking, Naruto once again brushed his eyes to get the sleep out and crawled besides Gaara.

Lazily Gaara lidded half of his eyes open. Blurring his vision out, he looked into the familiar and gentle deep-blue orbs.

"Na…r…to…"

"How are you feeling?" gingerly asked the blond.

Blinking once, Gaara stirred a bit. "I can't… feel… m… legs…" whispered the broken voice of the red-head.

"Don't worry, they're in their place if that's what's bugging you…" jokily replied Naruto, making Gaara's mouth twitch a little.

Still keeping his half lidded eyes with the blue ones, he murmured out "…wat…-er…"

"Are you able to sit up?" asked Naruto.

Trying to bring his hand up Gaara slightly hissed at the mere twitch of it and slowly shook his head.

Looking at the river and then back at the teen, Naruto thought for a second before he stood up. Scooping the water, Naruto glanced at the crystal liquid in his hands and pondered, _'He can't move…, muscles are cramped…, bones are hurting with each slight movement…' _sighing he let the water run through his fingers and rubbed his temples, _'Guess he won't be able to drink normally then…' _

While suppressing a blush on his cheeks, Naruto scooped the water anew and stood back up, _'Just try and laugh panda, I'll give you a run for after all that is done…' _Bringing his hands up his lips, Naruto drank the water, holding it into his mouth he walked over and kneeled by his friend.

Opening his closed eyes, Gaara blinked. Naruto stared at him with mouth full of water and a little blush covering his face. As he pointed at his mouth, Naruto mimicked with the hand for Gaara to open his own mouth.

Gaara understood the blond's request but kept his confused face on – just for the fun…

Rolling his eyes, Naruto started clapping his hands up and down, trying hard to mimic an opening and closing mouth, which rather looked like a duck's-nose…?!…sort of…

Gaara merely looked at Naruto trying hard to explain how to properly open his mouth by doing weird signs, and then scowl at him, since the red-head wouldn't listen and even dare to let out a small painful laugh. Naruto swallowed the water and glared at the amused red-head.

"I am so gonna kill you when you're back on your feet," mumbling under his breath warned the blond.

Gaara just shook his head between the painful chuckles.

Growling, Naruto went back to the lake and once more took the water in his mouth. Coming back with water behind full cheeks, Naruto kneeled near Gaara's face.

Gaara tried hard to surpass his amusement and keep the situation serious but seeing the pouting _fox_ he just kept on going… that is until the mischievous _fox_ spit the whole water on his face and his slightly opened mouth.

Chocking, Gaara stopped laughing and glared at the teen glaring back.

"Now hold still," annoyed ordered the blond, "it's nothing compared to what we've done before anyway…" he murmured and once again went after the water.

Sighing at Naruto for ruining his joy, Gaara gently nodded with a hint of red now gracing his own cheeks.

Sighing himself, Naruto took the pure water in and walked back to Gaara… again. Locking their gaze, Gaara partly opened his mouth and allowed Naruto to lean forward and press his wet lips against the red-head's, thus transferring the liquid into his mouth. Pulling away Naruto licked the dripping water from the corner of his mouth and watched Gaara swallow. Gaara coughed a bit before demanding for more. Without delay Naruto repeated the procedure till the _panda _felt satisfied.

Washing his face, Naruto came back to the red-head and sat down, rubbing his still slightly stingy-eyes. "Sleep! I'll keep guard. Tomorrow we'll b-…" Naruto cut himself off as he saw the red-head already sleeping.

Smiling, Naruto picked his friend up, who winced at the movement, and slowly went towards the nearby tree. Sitting himself under it he held the sleeping form against his chest and wrapping his hands around the slim waist, hopping to warm the shirt-less teen up. Glancing at the dark sky, Naruto watched the sparkling dots of thousands of stars.

'_Wonder what the others are doing…'_

Closing his own eyes, Naruto relaxed and drifted himself off for a welcoming sleep, surly not before spreading enough chakra incase of something nearing by.

_

* * *

_

"This is getting really confusing…" sighed Tenten.

"How on earth could this happen'?" biting her nails, wondered Sakura.

"Quiet, please… you'll wake them!" warned Temari, as she glared at the two girls.

"Isn't it that what we want them to do?" wondered Kiba, scratching the back of his head.

"Get your ass off the bed Kiba!" roared Kankuro.

"Don't bark at me puppet!!"

"WHAT YOU CALL ME?!"

"Silence!! You'll wake them up!" growled Iruka, Temari and Kurenai.

"-Bark-bark-…" said Akamaru.

"This is the most beautiful sight of youth. Young springs must be blest!!"

"Back off Gai! Don't you dare tame my miniature form of a student," growled Kakashi

"-Bark-bark-…"

"Will you shut your walking burger, Kiba!" growled Kankuro pointing at the barking-dog.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

"Geez, this is such a drag…" rubbing his temples at everyone, sighed the lazy-nin.

"Shut up," hissed Ino, as she smacked the back of his head.

"KANKURO, KIBA! STOP THROWING THINGS!" yelled all senseis.

"HE STARTED IT!" both yelled back in union.

"Shows what they know…" mumbled Shino.

"AAAarrrGG…"

"ENOUGH!" finally roared Tsunade, as she entered her bedroom and went over to the bed, which was surrounded by the rest of the _happy_-friend-bunch.

Konoha11 and Sand siblings were all kneeling around the bed with senseis standing close behind them.

"Well?!" impatiently asked Kakashi.

Sighing, Tsunade took a seat at the edge on the bed and softly eyed two small sleeping forms. "Their currently just sleeping, there is nothing that would threaten their lives."

Tension around the room slightly ceased.

"Now… back to the main part and straight to the point," said Tsunade as she straightened herself, "The first and the main stage of test shows us the identical DNA match of both 'brothers'. Meaning – it does prove us that these two here really are Gaara and Naruto," stated the Fifth Hokage, making everyone stare at the two lying children in wonder.

'_But… it can't be…'_

_

* * *

_

Gaara woke with a stir as he felt himself being moved.

"You awake?" came a questioning voice from his blond-friend.

"Aa…" he replied as he felt himself being carried on Naruto's back.

"See you finally regained some of your voice."

Too lazy to answer he only nodded under his sleep. Looking around the area Gaara wanted to ask about the location they're in, "Whe-…"

"We're still in the Sea country." Naruto answered before Gaara could even start.

"Ho-…"

"About an hour… I woke up at sunset and been walking ever since."

Glaring at the other teen's back, Gaara fumed, "Where's the point of my voice if I can't even finish one word without you butting in on it?"

Naruto chuckled as he shook his head.

Narrowing his eyes Gaara then tried to ask again, "Wat-…"

"Sure thing," quickly understanding the request Naruto came to a halt and he gently lowered Gaara from his back by the river he's been walking alongside.

"Like I was saying…" frowned the red-head.

"Sorry! It's just too easy for me to read you," laughed the blond.

Mumbling something under his breath, Gaara reached out and drank the water himself, glad that his muscles are slowly healing again…, though he still couldn't suppress the feeling of something being wrong._  
_

Splashing some of the water on his face, Gaara then breathed in the freshness of air before frowning again, "Why are we still in the forest?"

"Eh!?" shrugged Naruto, "I got lost!"

Gaara stared at him as if staring at an idiot, which actually was his clever comment for him, "Idiot!"

"Much obliged!" jokily thanked Naruto, as he closed his eyes and turned his face up to the sky.

Sighing, Gaara focused his eyes onto his feet; he fidgeted a bit and then scowled. "I can't move," the red-head simply said, glaring at his feet.

"You've been drained of chakra till the amount of zero…, what do you expect?!" Naruto sat by the _panda_ as he took off his sandals and lowered his feet into the cool water.

Staring at Naruto's feet Gaara growled, "And you expect me to drink after that?"

Looking at his feet he blinked. "Umm… yeah…?!" answered the grinning blond as he scratched his head. "Besides… you never know what else was put there before anyway," defensively stated the teen slightly splashing the water with his feet.

"Thank you Naruto… I really _needed_ it!" sarcastically exclaimed the red-head as he glared at the now grinning _fox_.

Waving his hand, Naruto dismissingly said, "Don't complain! You are what you eat…"

"What does _eating_ have to do with _water_?" complained the fuming red-head.

"I don't know!? I'm just saying… Quit bugging me!" turning his head aside, pouted Naruto, making Gaara's eye twitch.

"You really are a mutt," mumbling under his breath, Gaara reached for more water. As he cleaned his face, he caught Naruto's slight movements from the corner of his eye.

"What's with your eyes?" he asked looking straight at the blond.

Slightly ceasing on rubbing his eyes, Naruto took a small glance at his friend before he turned away and simply shrugged. "The guy in that dungeon splashed a weird liquid on me before I could get us both out…, it's nothing."

"Does it hurt?" narrowing his eyes, thought the mentally worried red-head.

"It stings a little," said Naruto as he left his eyes in peace.

"Then it hurts!" scowling concluded Gaara.

"Whatever, I already healed it anyway…" dismissingly stated the blond, before quietly adding "…approximately…?!…"

"Then you haven't done _anything_!" lectured the _panda._

"YEA, I have!" complained the _fox_, "it just… stings…"

"Hurts…"

"WHATEVER!"

"No, it's not _whatever_! Do you want to lose your sight?"

"I'm fine, ok?"

"Stop complaining…"

"Look who's talking…"

"I'm not gonna start it with you again!" warned Gaara in deep voice, making Naruto shut up.

Sighing, Naruto rub the bridge of his nose before looking and blinking at the flowing crystal-water.

"We need to get to the doctor," seriously exclaimed the red-head.

Saying nothing Naruto silently agreed. "Come on," he stood up and outstretched his hand, helping Gaara to his feet.

Hissing at the sudden mass put onto his feet, Gaara leaned against the blond and put his one hand around the blond's shoulders, as Naruto secured the hold by circling his own hand around the red-head's waist, thus balancing him to his feet.

"How's it feel?" looking at the red-head, asked the blond.

"Just like after our first fight…" Naruto smiled at the comment and slowly began to move.

_

* * *

_

After about half an hour long walking, complaining and painful-hissing, Naruto and Gaara stopped to catch a breath.

"This isn't going anywhere!" roared the dissatisfied blond, "I have no idea how far and how far from whatever the hell it is that we are far from we are?!" blinking, Gaara kind of understood what the perplexed _fox _been trying to say… although – he actually didn't.

Lowering Gaara down, Naruto regained some of his breath and slightly hitched at the sudden pain in his abdomen. Though he hoped Gaara wouldn't…but the red-head still saw it.

"What's wrong?" that was rather a demand for an answer than a mere wondering question.

Shaking his head, Naruto gritted his teeth as he suddenly fell to his knees, clenching to his stomach.

Crawling to the kneeling boy, Gaara placed a comforting hand on his shoulder hoping for the teen to calm down a bit… but it still looked quite insufferable for Naruto.

Slowly and calmly the _fox_ regained his breath and settled down. Opening his half closed eyes, Naruto felt kind of sick.

"Naruto?!"

Shaking his head at first, Naruto silently told him that it was nothing; however the red-head still ignored the silent declining and kept on asking…

"Tell me! What's wrong?"

Breathing some more of that freshening air, Naruto whispered unevenly, "I th-think it's the drug… they managed to stab me with… before I killed them…"

"Who?"

"Men in the cell…, the ones that were supposed to take me to the lab or… wherever… I don't know…" swallowing Naruto continued, "They said that it will make me sleep… at least I think that is what they meant?!"

"What are you feeling?"

"I aaa… don't know… it's like… my whole body is rejecting that drug right now… and tearing out my whole strength along with it, …it feels like war is going through my entire system."

"Just hold! It should end soon…" sighed Gaara with small relieve.

"Oh?! And you know?!" hissed the unsuited blond.

"Aa… I felt the same before I fell into an unconsciousness," calmly reassured the _panda_, "but because the sand kept defending it was different, they just gave me more and more of that shit until I finally gave in. It appears that they gave you something alike, though the affect is kicking in only now. Just calm down, it's not life threatening."

''_Calm down'… It's easier said than done'_ inwardly growled Naruto. Straightening himself up, he heavily exhaled. "Will it knock me out?"

Gaara shrugged, "It did knock me…, though I don't know about you?! Maybe for a couple of minutes or maybe hours?!"

"That's not what I wanted to hear…"

Glancing around, Gaara thought out-loud, "We should find a shelter, before you drift off…"

'_Well ain't that swell!?' _mentally smacking the stupid-day, Naruto growled in his throat. Blinking he looked around as well. _'Gonna be kind a hard to find one at this time…' _thought the blond, referring to the shelter-_hunt_, before a sudden idea came to mind.

"Very well," sighing, Naruto bit his thumb and started performing hand-signs…

"What are you doing?!" asked confused Gaara.

"What's it look like? I will soon be drained out of my strength… so how do you plan on us moving anywhere then?!"

"You will summon that stupid toad?!" not fairly satisfied with the deal, Gaara wriggled his nose.

Smirking Naruto nodded, "It shall be a nice reunion, won't it?"

"Don't remind me…" mumbled Gaara as he looked somewhere other than the blond; not feeling happy to meet the summon who defeated him on their first meeting.

Slamming his left hand to the ground, a rather strange summoning signs appeared before the ground suddenly started to shake 'neath them. Taking Gaara quickly by the hand, they both jumped aside.

Turning around Naruto watched as the ground, they were previously standing on, cracked and something huge came out dusting all the trees in its way with dirt.

'_Must be Chief's new way to make an impressive entrance,' _thought Naruto as he helped his sitting friend on the floor.

Preparing to jump, the blond gathered the red-head in his hands…but as soon as he turned and looked up, he dropped him back to the ground…

"Oooff… THE HELL, NARUTO?!"

Ignoring the cursing red-head in the dirt, Naruto kept leering at the view in front of his eyes.

Lying by his legs, Gaara turned to look at all of the commotion… …and his mouth dropped.

_

* * *

_

* * *

* * *


	4. Chapter 4

* * *

'_**Chapter 4'**_

_

* * *

_

Unmistakable nine dark-shade-orange tails were reflectively swinging in the agape teens' wide eyes.

Two big ruby eyes rolled down and glared at the two bugs on the ground.

'_Kyuubi…!?' _Naruto was dumbstruck. The very demon …once sealed in him, then merged… was very lively standing before their eyes …glaring at them – _'definitely Kyuubi!'_

Fixing his gaze on the standing midget, a sudden scent caught the attention of the gigantic fox-demon and he leaned forward. Bringing his huge nostril closer to the agape teen with long tress holding his blond-red hair, Kyuubi sniffed him… feeling somehow intrigued by the alluring and somewhat familiar demonic aura hiding deeply afar inside of the boy.

"Who are you?" asked the heavy voice of the demon, making teens' hair to slightly heave under it.

"Huh?" was Naruto's clever reply, as he was still gaping.

"Answer the question, creature!" demanded the beast.

"Huh?" the poor-teen couldn't make out a sentence.

Narrowing his eyes, the demon brought one of his tails up and wrapped it around the far-lost Naruto. Bringing him up along with himself, Kyuubi examined the mini-form in his large tail.

"How on earth did you summon me?"

"Please don't eat me…" the sentence from wide-eyed boy sounded rather simple apart from the plea, demand, fear or anything in that meter – it was emotionless, and the puny-human must not have even realized that he had just said it himself…

Tilting his head at the weird creature's behavior in front of him, Kyuubi gave a light chuckle. Bringing his massive body to the ground, the demon laid down with one still shocked teen enveloped in his tail and the other sitting now in front of his gigantic paws gaping.

'_This could be entertaining…' _thought amused Kyuubi. "Good manners aren't your strongest suit, boy," it was not a question.

Smirking at still non-responding one, Kyuubi teased, "Why so quiet? Got lost in what you get to see? Well…, rest assure… that will be the last thing you'll _ever_ see."

Looking them over, the fox pondered, _'Even though they are quite tempting and delicious looking… they still are rather small and short to eat.'_

Suddenly Naruto snapped out of his shock and exploded, "I AM NOT SHORT!"

"What?!" Kyuubi's eyes widened, _'Is he able to read my mind?!'_

"'_What?!'_ …What are you drunk or something?!" this was confusing; "DAMN STREIGHT I AM, YOU DAMN FUR-BALL!" glared Naruto.

The fox was kind of interested at the sudden changes of display… _'What an interesting creature,'_ thought the demon, but then scowled as he finally understood what the _midget_ had said a moment ago…

"What did you call me?" hissed Kyuubi as he glared with just as intensity as his sudden summoner.

"Don't point your fancy-teeth at me you _mutt_! My whole life I had to deal with your annoying mumbling, bubbling, growling and roaring in my head… in fact – STOP BRINGING BACK THOSE MEMORIES!"

'_Is this kid paranoid or something…?!' _Kyuubi found himself in his life's most confusing situation… _'Maybe I should just eat him and be done with it?!' _

"HEY, STUPID-FOX! DON'T EVEN DARE TRY AND THINK OF DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" roared Naruto.

"And why in heaven places _not_?"

"WHY…?! …?! …?!" _'Well… that's kind of a good question actually,' _thought Naruto. Shaking his head he returned back to the yelling part, "Anyway… what are _you_ doing here? And how can you actually _be_ here??"

"Annoying midget! You summoned me…" growled Kyuubi through his deadly-sharp teeth. "And now…if you don't mind, I would like to bite that annoying head of yours off and go and get lost."

"Actually I do mind!" said wide-eyed Naruto, till he started to roar again, "Aaahhh… why am I so worked up over a stupid fox?!"

"Call me that again and you'll neve-…" Kyuubi started to growl but the blond beat him to it…

"… – _see the lights through those sparklingly irritating blue eyes ever again!_" mockingly stated Naruto, as he turned away and crossed his hands, mumbling under his breath, "Tch… like I haven't heard that one before…"

Kyuubi felt like going mad… _'What is going on? Can he even predict my mind before I find it myself?!'_

Hearing fox's thoughts Naruto was mentally smacking himself with unimaginable weirdness that is _this day_.

Crushing the stupidity of the fox he decided to get lost in his own questions. "How is it possible?" whispered frowning Naruto, "Kyuubi should be… …"

Gazing at the abstracted teen, Kyuubi took the time and carefully went through every feature of the boy's slightly feminine-face – alluring dark-blue eyes, six deep whisker-like-marks – three on each cheek, pointy ears, long golden hair with red strands in the middle and two long blood red bangs forming his thin face…, something about that red color and shape of the hair reminded the demon of his own fur… _'…strange…'_

"Who are you?" demanded intrigued demon for the second time, feeling someway…_attached_ to the blond-boy…, he wanted to know more.

Naruto glanced up at him; "Don't you remember me?" something in that sentence saddened the teen.

"Only in my most terrifying dreams," scowled Kyuubi.

"I am your vessel."

"…"

"…"

"You must be out of your mind!" stated the demon, staring at the crazy child.

'_That would've made more sense then…' _frowned Naruto. "I don't understand… you merged with me…, you should be… …dead," the last word went but in a low whisper.

For somewhat seconds everything went quiet till Kyuubi started laughing, "Me…? Dead…? Listen, I'm only pass my thousands… there's no way I could die at that sort of age."

"So… then your _power_ merged with me and _you_ went back to wherever the hell it is that you came from in the first place?!"

"You make no sense… When did _I_ ever have any encounter with _you_ in any way possible?"

"SINCE THE DAY YOU ALMOST DESTROYED KONOHAGAKURE," yelled annoyed Naruto, clenching the fur of the tail with his both hands.

"…" staring at the fuming boy, Kyuubi tried to come to at least some conclusions in understanding what the hell the little _midget_ is gabbling about – _'…as far as it seems, the boy believes that by attacking Konohagakure – in some way – I was sealed in his body and later merged my powers with him…, thus __dying__ myself??!' _……_ 'No… no sense at all…'_

Sighing Kyuubi placed the _midget_ at the end of his nose and laid his head on his two paws in front of long-forgotten still-shocked Gaara.

"I'm really starting to get tired of all this… Frankly – I never attacked Konoha and have no intention to do so…, am not interested at the moment."

Naruto just sat there straddling Kyuubi's muzzle, _'…maybe… it's not Kyuubi then… there are many different demons, but no-one ever said that there couldn't be two or more of the same kind… right?!'_

"Demon, you… I mean… do you have… siblings?" curiously asked Naruto.

"We are of the kind – nine demons – no siblings… no family…" calmly explained Kyuubi as he relaxed himself by closing his eyes.

'_Ok, now that didn't help me at all!' _scratching his head sighed Naruto.

"How did you summon me, boy?" suddenly asked the fox, finally hopping for an answer.

"I wasn't trying to summon _you_…" stated Naruto; before he mumbled under his breath, boringly glancing to the side, "I was going for Gamabunta."

"The Namikaze's Toad?!" raising an eyebrow, Kyuubi curiously opened his one eye.

Naruto nodded but then frowned, "Wait… you remember Yondaime!?" hope to get out of this drivel rose up. "He sealed you inside me… at the exchange of his life." _'…maybe that will get that brain of his remember…?!'_

Arching a brow at the given name, Kyuubi sighed, "Look huma-…"

"Naruto!" the blond corrected, trying to get the fox to call him by name.

"Midget…!" Kyuubi re-corrected, not feeling like giving the blond his real name. "Before I prove my point on the fact that you are totally and completely insane, let me inform you that Namikaze is alive."

"… …? …? … … ARE YOU SCREWING WITH ME?" roared the blond-teen after a long-long pause.

"There's not much to _screw_ anymore," shrugged Kyuubi. "You've already done a perfectly good job on that," chuckled the demon.

Kyuubi's light-laughs suddenly ceased as something hit him between his eyes so hard that it made him yelp and abruptly get up and stumble a couple of steps backwards.

Opening his right-eye, Kyuubi then glared and gritted his teeth at the heavily panting teen – now standing on the ground, holding one outstretched hand in his direction with the other tightly holding the small stomach.

"F-felt that? …Th-that's… yo-your power…" Falling on his knees, Naruto wrapped his both hands around his stomach, holding his eyes tightly shut – trying hard to ignore the pain in his abdomen. _'Idiotic drugs… messed with my entire system…'_

Leering at the boy, Kyuubi blinked as he suddenly caught his attention on four red-chakra tails behind the teen. Narrowing his eyes Kyuubi stepped forward and brought one of his tails up. But before he could get further a large hand of sand grabbed his furry-orange-tail in a firm grip. Glancing over the blond – red-eyes met deep-green…

"Touch him and you'll soon become brothers with eight-tails," emotionlessly threatened the red-head.

"Shukaku?!" Kyuubi paid little need to the threats as he was brought aback by the familiarity of the sand. "Thought that Shukaku was sealed into a particularly older man… could I have been wrong?" simply yet curiously asked Kyuubi.

"Shukaku is no longer of the living. After the merge of our bodies he's been dead," showing no expression, explained Gaara.

"Ah… that's where you're wrong," smirked Kyuubi, "If anything is to happen to one of the demons – the other eight know of it in an instant," informed Kyuubi, making Gaara to frown deeply.

"Then how come you know_ nothing_ about us?" hissed Naruto, still clenching to his stomach.

"Who needs you anyway?" sneered Kyuubi.

Glancing at the fox, Naruto sadly frowned lowering his gaze _'…no-one…'_

Frowning himself, Kyuubi slowly brought the second tail up, since the first was in red-head's death-grip, and circled it around the blond-boy's body – leaving it to loosely lay there…

…Slowly Naruto's chakra started to forcefully come out from his whole body. Wincing at the pain Naruto growled, "W-what are you doing?"

Seeing Naruto in pain, Gaara fisted his outstretched hand, thus slowly breaking Kyuubi's tail he's holding.

Flinching at the painful-grip, Kyuubi quickly ripped his almost broke tail out of the sand with a wince and smacked Gaara with it; the red-head went crushing into the nearest tree.

Narrowing his brows in anger, Naruto's one tail suddenly shot towards Kyuubi.

Looking back at the _midget_ surrounded by his tail, Kyuubi was greeted with red-blur towards his left-eye. Fortunately, he reflexively closed it but was still forced to get a sudden hit.

'_The runt almost pocked my eye out…,' _sighing hissed Kyuubi with a low growl in his throat.

The fox opened his ruby-orbs and glared at the panting blond, before turning his stare to the red-head who shakily struggling to stood up on his knees beneath the tree he was thrown at.

'_Both of these creatures look ready to pass out at any minute, yet inside they still contain such an enormous power that could simply beat the crap out of me…'_

Blinking the slightly blurry vision out, Kyuubi refocused his eyes; with one eye now highly redder than the other one, the demon looked back at the blond for a quiet moment before speaking, "I'm checking your chakra." he answered Naruto's last question, assuring the boy to calm down.

Glaring at the demon, Naruto heavily exhaled; relaxed he closed his eyes and allowed the procedure to continue, which the demon did.

'_His whole chakra is bloody-red…' _deduced the demon, _'…almost same as mine, though the smell is definitely foreign!?'_

"You are n-not looking deep e-enough… th-that's my chakra…" hearing the fox's thoughts, said hurting Naruto while trying to calm himself from the forming pain Kyuubi is making him go through.

Understanding the message, Kyuubi brought his third and fourth tail and placed it next to the second.

Lazily deeply-darker-blood-red chakra formed from Naruto's body, bringing unimaginable heat around him.

The demon's eyes blinked a couple of times before going wide, _'Remarkable! The boy possesses my whole power which is even much more superior than… mine?! How is it possible…? …Unless…' _Kyuubi abruptly smirked, _'…impressive!'_

"What is?" hissed panting Naruto while slowly retrieving back the black-red chakra the moment Kyuubi was done with it.

"Tell me… how you got here?" asked the demon as he watched the black-red chakra fade away.

"What does that have to do with any-…"

"Answer me, midget!" harshly demanded the fox.

Scowling at the scowling back one, Naruto hissed "Fine…!" Closing his tired eyes, Naruto replied, "Gaara and me were fighting back at our home…, using yours and Shukaku's powers we blasted the chakra-lines at each other till it created an orange swirling thing and blasted us here," curtly informed the blond as he finished.

'…_chakra-lines…?!' _Kyuubi scowled a little, before he gathered all the details together and sighed with a small smirk gracing his features, "As strange as it might seem to you… the explanatory can be seen in dimensions. You two blasted yourselves into another universe…"

_

* * *

_

"What?!"

"As weird as it sounds – it is the only logical explanation," said the lazy-nin, resting his back against the wall of the Hokage-office before turning to the Hokage herself, "Besides, you also told us that the second stage of the test shows no link to the two demons…"

"Aa, the DNA is the definite identification of the 'brothers'' blood, that is – before the merge occur," confirming informed Hokage.

"But that only proves nothing…" thought Choji, "'Brothers' aren't 'brothers' without demons inside them…"

"No, on the contrary, it could prove the existence of the other world. The slight differences of it – time…, life…, anything that's occurring there might be the exact opposite from what's happening over here. For instance – in this world 'brothers' were bond to live a life of a heavy burden – forced to live a life they had absolutely no saying in; while in the second world everything might be the exact opposite – freedom, no sealed demons, friends, family, the approval of others… – all that they had never experienced but surly wished for…. Naruto and Gaara might have just opened the gates to the other dimension, thus accidentally transporting themselves to the other world which led them to the exchange of these two," Shikamaru referred the thought to the two currently lying forms in the other room.

"That's confusing…" mussed Kankuro.

"You meant to say – two personalities can't exist in one place at once?! So they sort a switched?!" asked the wondering pink-haired girl.

"Don't know if they can or can't… but this occasion apparently made it happen so," shrugged the lazy-nin.

"But if they are Naruto and Gaara, as you directly stated that yourself," wondered Ino, as she pointedly turned to the medic-specialist, "…how come you don't consider upon the fact that those two actually are the same ol' 'brothers'? What if it is the exact effect of that jutsu of theirs?!"

"Well… those two can't be _our_ 'brothers', cause by the time the merge occurred their blood was mixed together with the blood of demons, which makes it easier for them to use demonic-strength once they summon it," explained the Godaime, "…and it can't be extracted by human jutsu, nor by demon jutsu or any other jutsu or ways it would seem possible. It would almost be like… taking out your own soul."

"Yeah, but come on! Dimensions?! That's stupid… it's not possible," said the _dog-lover_, snarling.

"And why is that? There are many things we don't know in this world," emotionlessly stated the _Byakugan_ user.

"There may be many things unknown… but do we really need to jump to such conclusions straight ahead?!" contradicted Kiba.

"How else would you explain it?" asked Jiraiya, taking notes of the test-results and shortly going through them. "They're not clones, nor are they blood-clones…, the similarity of DNA shows a 100 percentage pure identity of the brats till the last cell in their bodies if we ignore the cells of the demons. …What else can we consider upon?! – No genjutsu, no tricks… only a mere accord of selfsame 'brothers'. Even if as relatives – there can be no way they can posses the exact same DNA cells of Naruto or Gaara's blood." sighing Jiraiya shrugged, "Guess we'll just have to stick with this theory."

Burying her head into her hands, the Godaime mumbled under her breath, "Members of the council will definitely like to hear about this…"

_

* * *

_

Sighing, Tsunade rubbing her hurting temples as the gathered members of the council stared at the crazy woman.

"Another dimension?! You must be joking…"

_

* * *

_

"Surly you've heard of other dimensions…"

"No…, I haven't lived as long as you have to believe it. It's a trivial-myth in our world," said the red-head once he finally crawled back to the two 'foxes' and sat by bemused greatly-smaller _fox's_ side.

"As _trivial_ as it may seem to you… it is true," smirked Kyuubi, once again lying himself down, "And you two just proved it to yourselves… by living through it."

Blinking Naruto shook his head as he tried to get the blurry vision in the eyes along with his agape-mouth out of sight. "But… could it mean then that… we… I mean not us… but… _us_…?!… _the_ _other us_… are here as well?!" asked the blond teen confusing himself between his own words…

Amused by it, Kyuubi replied, "It could be so…, only your other self in this world will be exactly different, considering the fact that I am not sealed inside of you in this dimension."

'_Well that sure is interesting… Maybe I could finally see me as a normal human…' _Naruto warmly smiled at the thought… before a proud sadistic-smirk came gracing his features, _'…and then beat the crap out of my happy-second-self… for all that brought pain I dragged my ass through…!'_

Catching the familiar glint in the blond's eyes, Gaara heavily exhaled and slapped the blond's back for _good _manners, making him chock, "Naruto, stop thinking the way of how to destroy your family!"

"Urgh!" rubbing his back, the blond rolled his eyes as he was forced out of his 'happy thoughts'.

"You're becoming homicidal again."

"Don't care…" chuckling at the thought, Naruto moved his hand from the smart-back to rub his annoyingly 'stingy' eyes and abruptly scowl, "DAM IT! Why on earth is it hurting so much?!"

"Don't touch it!" lectured the red-head smacking the blond's hand away from the now slightly rubbed-red eye.

Sighing, Naruto obeyed and heavily dropped himself onto the grass. "I want to go home…" he murmured under his breath and tightly clenched his eyes close.

Looking at the teen, Gaara then turned his head to gaze up at the gigantic beast. "Can we get back?"

The demon ripped his own gaze off the lying blond and for somewhat seconds thoughtfully stared at the red-head before saying, "I doubt it…"

_

* * *

_

"Do you think they'll be able to get back?!" wondered Iruka as he entered the now empty bedroom and sat by two sleeping boys on the bed.

Temari glanced at the Chunin before giving him a small smile, "I don't know…, but I think the most important thing right now is that they are still alive… somewhere."

"Aa… " whispered Iruka as he gently traced his two fingers along the blond-boy's cheek. Smiling, he quietly stated, "He has no cheek-whiskers on him…"

"…as Gaara is absent from tattoo and tanuki-eyes," whispery added the Sand-kunoichi, walking over to the bed from the windowsill. "Is the meeting still going?" she asked, turning to look at the man.

"Yes…, Tsunade, Jiraiya and most of the Jounin (meaning – Kakashi, Kurenai, Asuma, Gai, Shikamaru, Neji and Kiba) are currently within the meeting. The rest went to go and get some supplies – fresh clothes, food, water…"

Sighing, she nodded and took the opposite seat on the bed to softly eye the miniature form of her younger-brother. "I wonder whether their lives been loved and cherished like they should have been for Gaara and Naruto!? Do you think these two will recognize us in some way?"

Shrugging, Iruka opened his mouth to speak…, but instead of saying anything he abruptly blinked his eyes wide and took a sharp inhale as both boys suddenly started to stir awake…

_

* * *

_

"THE HELL! How come we can't get back?!" protested the lying blond on the ground as he angrily kicked it with his palms.

"The two of you used a forbidden technique known only to demons…"

"That's rich – demons actually consider upon such word as _forbidden_?!" snarled the blond.

Ignoring him, the demon continued, "… By opening the dimensional gates you sealed your soles to it…, much like as a sacrifice of humans who dare use demonic power.

The _demon-lines_ you shot at each other were mixed with the slight hitch of the parallelism between the universes by the time it opens, which happens once in every six-hundred-sixty-six years. So unless you don't die of old age, you simply can't get back…"

"Nice number," whispered the blond.

"Such procedures require cursed numbers, midget."

"Aa, the same thing happened the time we merged – on the sixth day of the sixth month," loudly thought Gaara.

"Impressive…! You two might as well consider yourselves fortunate. Otherwise you would've died if the merge would occur on any other date of time," enlightened the fox.

"Yeah right!" roared the blond, "_Fortune_ my ass… it was Inferno!"

"Well you ought to be grateful for the _Inferno _you received," wearily said the fox, "The pain you experienced was the most merciful…, considering the fact that you have all your body parts at place."

"WHA-…?!" shocked Naruto quickly sat up, making his head spin, and glared at the chuckling beast.

"What'd you expect – _flowers_ and _sweets_?!"

"I wouldn't mind going for that…!?" pouting, preferred Naruto.

"Well too bad…" closing his eyes stated the fox, "…it's not how it works. Through any demonic ritual you pass or demonic-power that you summon you make a sacrifice of your own selves." lidding the giant orbs back open, Kyuubi calmly looked them over, "Were you _normal_ humans…you would've been dead the time you opened the gates by using our power. That is what is meant by _sacrifice_."

Loudly roaring out his dissatisfaction about _doltish-demon-rituals_, Naruto brought his knees to the chest and turned away from the fox, scowling at the forest instead. Gaara watched his 'brother's' back for some time before losing himself in his own thoughts, while Kyuubi watched them both with amused interest and curiosity.

Minutes passed until Naruto thought out loud, "Where are we going from here?!" hoping for Gaara to say something.

Opening his green-orbs, Gaara stared at his almost 'dead' feet and then at Naruto's back. Seeing the blond scratch his eyes, he quietly said, "We must get to the nearest hospital… hopefully someone will be able to cure whatever it is that we got injected by."

"Think this world will accept some_thing_ like _us_ in it?!" frowned the blond, silently frightened with the idea of him and Gaara being feared by people because of their looks. "By a mere look at us it will show what awaits you and me; I do believe we already went through something like th-…" Naruto trailed off as his head suddenly span around and received something akin to a harsh and painful hit to it from the inside.

"Naruto?!" worried but at the same time aware of what is going on, Gaara grabbed his friend's shoulders and tried to shake him away from the doze, which appeared to be the effect from the drug; But his calls didn't seem to get through to the blond.

Naruto heard small, distant voices calling him back, however he was rather intrigued by the overcoming power that was…sleep.

"Don't-… …" was the last thing the little-_fox _could hear echoing through his head, before he gave himself of to the darkness.

Crawling closer to the limp form, Gaara brought his hand to Naruto's nose and checked he's breathing; _'steady…' _mussed the red-head as he stared at Naruto's unconscious body.

"The effect of the drug worked," loudly informed the red-head once he felt a questioning gaze coming from behind his back.

"Mind telling me what kind of a drug are you talking about?" raising his huge brow, asked Kyuubi.

Turning around, the red-head came upon a question of his own…or rather a request, "I shall tell you everything…, _if_ you will take me and my brother to the nearest forest area of this country's gates!"

Narrowing his brows, Kyuubi glared at the teen who just demanded him to be an escort of the lands. Of course he would instantly say no…, if it were for any other situation…or…a particular blond who caught the demon's _deep_ curiosity…

"Very well!" hesitantly agreed Kyuubi and brought two of his huge tails to the boys.

_

* * *

_

It wasn't even twenty minutes before Naruto finally stirred awake…

Hissing at the pain in the head, he went to get up but a pair of pail hands on his shoulders pulled him back down onto the lap of the green-eyed teen.

Saying nothing, Gaara stared down at Naruto's eyes with hidden concern.

Narrowing his brows, Naruto decided that he doesn't want to know about his situation… (the only thing that matters to him is his 'brother' and none less…) …and turned away to scan the area instead.

It was nightfall and the 'bed' he was currently sleeping on was moving on its own…

'_What!?'_

"Finally came back to the living I see!" suddenly came a noticeable low-growl from his 'bed'.

Fisting what should appear to be sheets, Naruto got the warm fur instead. "Kyuubi?!" wondered the teen as he collided with the familiarity of the demon's warmth.

"Yes?!" slowly walking through the thick forest, kneading all on his way, asked or replied the demon – though it didn't matter, cause Naruto had only one sudden thing in mind…

"WHAT A HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!?" he screamed, making Gaara slightly jump and roll his eyes.

"And what would it appear that I'm accused off to be doing wrong?" calmly asked the demon, finding each conversation with the blond quite amusing…for some reason!?

"YOU'RE KNEADING PEOPLE!"

Chuckling Kyuubi lightly shook his head, "And I can tell you I'm am very well enjoying it…"

"WHAT A…?!" Naruto cursed and lunched himself at the laughing demon, in spite of the fact that he's currently _on_ the demon and there appears to be nowhere to lunch himself at…

Anyways…, all that desire was squandered as Gaara harshly pulled his hyper-friend by the shirt's collar, almost chocking him, and brought him back in place.

Hitting his head back on Gaara's lap, Naruto glared at the deep-green eyes, which gladly were glaring back at his deep-blue ones.

"Does anything ever keep you calm, Naruto?" asked the red-head, struggling to hold the persistent blond down. "He's not _kneading _people-…" Gaara started to explain in reassurance…

"No," confirmed the demon, before he started laughing, "I'm only _stepping_ on them!"

"AAaarrr…" roared the blond as he tried to get to Kyuubi's ears and bite them off, however Gaara was restraining him with his death-grip.

"Dam you, Naruto! W-will you be still?!" growled the red-head as Naruto kept wriggling around to get to the fox, while all Kyuubi did was laugh…

…He hadn't laughed like this in thousands of years.

Naruto didn't actually care whether Kyuubi is stepping or kneading someone, he just liked the idea of him killing the damn laughing fox.

"St-stop laugh-ing you d-damn… _plushy_…"

Kyuubi's eye twitched at the nickname, however before he could start growling back the _panda _spoke,

"Naruto, listen! He's not killing anyone… There is a strong barrier around us all – genjutsu if you will… – no-one can see us and no-one is hurt, because the barrier confuses them and directs them away; the only thing you need to worry for are trees…. So please shut the hell up!"

Half listening and half ignoring, Naruto yelled, "Who cares who he's killing!? I just want to kill that Reynard… is that so much to ask?!"

"Yes! Because then we will lose our chance of getting out of this maze of a forest."

Inhaling deeply to start yelling and accusing the gigantic fox – for no particular reason – Naruto abruptly shut his mouth as he found nothing to say and cursed… _'DAM IT! Now where's the fun in that?!'_

"URGH! Fine!" grumbling under his breath and snarling at Gaara for ruining his fun, he lay back and supported his head with his hands.

After some time… – actually five seconds of silence, Naruto got sick of it and asked, "How long was I out, by the way?!"

"About fifteen or so minutes," replied his friend.

"Well that sure was pathetic! What drug lasts so little?!"

Smirking, Gaara quietly thought, "As if there actually would be anything that could hold you at peace for long…"

"What?"

"Nothing-nothing…" dismissingly waving his hand at the blond said the red-head.

Looking at the stars in the clear night's sky, Naruto asked, "Where are we heading, anyway?!"

"To the village."

"I get so far…"

Sighing, Gaara laid himself besides his 'brother' and elaborated, "I guess we should first head to the nearest town: sneak in…, steal some stuff… and then decide and start from there…"

"Ok…" slowly replied Naruto, frowning a bit, "I guess that will do!? …Though…" fidgeting a bit, Naruto dug something in his pocket and pulled out a small bag, handing it to the red-head, "…scratch the stealing part."

Curiously eyeing the bag, Gaara opened it and checked the stuff inside, "Money?!" Counting it Gaara smirked and glanced at his 'brother', "Where'd you get that?!"

"Dungeon," said Naruto, feeling a little shiver run through his back at the memory. "Thought that might as well rob them while I'm at it…" he added, shrugging.

Securing the bag with its little rope, Gaara started to play with it – throwing from one hand to the other. "You know… you're not as innocent as everyone thinks you are…" loudly he thought, peeking at his resting companion for reaction.

"Courtesy of Kyuubi!" smugly said the blond as he harshly, yet playfully, petted the demons fur. All anger for the fox long forgotten… (as weird as it seems).

"Glad I was of assistance to that _wise_ brain of yours in the other life," appreciatively, but a bit sarcastically, replied the demon.

Rolling his eyes, Naruto mumbled out, "That's only one of your _oh-so-knowledgeable_ acts I was forced to be fallen upon!"

Rising a huge brow, Kyuubi smirked, "Is that so?!"

"Yeah, so!" feeling all mighty, confirmed the blond as the annoyance against the fox rose back up.

"Guess I'll have to check that out later on," exclaimed the demon.

"Gonna be my sensei?!" teasingly asked Naruto.

The idea would actually be laughable to the fox in any situation, however Kyuubi took a little too much time to answer back. "Might as well!" serious voice suddenly met the blond's ears.

"Huh?!"

"Do you know everything about my power?!"

"Uummm…" Naruto didn't quite see that coming, "…yes!?"

"So it's a 'no'!" sighed the fox.

Blinking, Naruto's eye twitched, "GRRrr… Stupid fox! I said 'YES'!" going back to his anger-mode, roared the blond.

"And I said I'll take that as a 'no'!" boringly stated the demon.

"BUT I ANSWERED IN POSITIVE!" complained the blond.

"You were lingering too much… then it's a negative!"

"No it's not!"

"It is! Now shut up! And end of discussion!"

"WHAT?! Man… you are so…so… GAhh… I HATE YOU!" sharply Naruto shot up to his feet and stumbled to the fox's rear – trying to gain some distance; on the way making sure to crush his feet as hard as he could on the demon's back.

"Irritating _bug_!" growled Kyuubi and reflexively slammed one of his tails directly onto Naruto.

"Uufff… WHAT THE HELL, KYUUBI?!" angry, Naruto was about to bite the furry-tail that landed right on him…

…but before the blond could bite it, the tail pulled away and rather quickly twined its way around the boy's right-leg and pulled him up…

…and so…, Naruto ended being pulled hanging high in the air above the other tails, while pleased Kyuubi preceded walking and ignoring the complaining _midget_.

"HEY, ARE YOU CRAZY?! COME ON! LET GO! THAT'S NOT FAIR! KYUUBI! I DEMAND THAT YOU PUT ME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" the blond screamed as he was swung from one side to the other, making him dizzy.

Kyuubi didn't know for sure when the last time he smiled so much was…, but he was sure he never had so much fun his entire life…

Finally giving in, the teen roared, "HMPH! FINE! BE THAT WAY! See if I care!?" crossing his arms on the chest Naruto closed his eyes and turned his head away.

It wasn't long till the little blond was subconsciously rocked to sleep while still being carried upside-down by fox's tail.

Gaara watched the two 'foxes' with delightful amusement till he himself laid comfortably on Kyuubi's fur and decided to take a little nap as well…

_

* * *

_

**SPALSH!!!**

"GAAhhh… WHAT A FUCK?!" screamed the morning sunshine of joy, as he was suddenly awaken by being thrown into the ton of water.

Glaring around, after swimming back to the surface, Naruto came across the mischievous fox at the bank of the lake – growling with laughter together with the red-head, who on the other hand tried to cover his laughter and look somewhere other than his 'brother'.

Narrowing his eyes, Naruto said nothing as he dove back in to the water and swam to the other edge of what appears to be a lake. Coming to the surface, he positioned himself on top of it and kneeled down; quickly, Naruto started to go through difficult set of hand-signs…

"Eat this!" said the blond as he finished the last symbol and placed his both palms on the top of the crystal water.

None of the two were given any time to comprehend the next situation they were doomed to fall upon, as a massive wave of water rose up, towering above them, before going down (tsunami would get jealous)…

"Oh fuck," whispered Gaara and braced himself for the impact, while Kyuubi was too occupied by thinking if it was even possible to make a wave higher than his own height…

'_Guess it is!' _thought the demon before he got knocked down by a massive wall of water.

Shaking off the water intact fur, Kyuubi opened his eyes and glared at the laughing blond on the ground at the far end of the once-was-lake.

"Yo-…you… you look like a rat! AAaaahahahaha…" Naruto laughed while pointing at the wet-fox.

Feeling something tugging on one of his tails, Kyuubi pulled it out of the still slightly flowing water under him to reveal one weakly clinging red-head. Sighing he pulled the tail further up and placed the exhausted teen on top of his head.

"All fun and well till he decides to get his way back at you…" lightly panting said the red-head, more to himself than to the giant _wet-rat_ beneath him.

Still chuckling, Naruto stood up from the bank and made his way back to the two. Taking his time by walking above the remains of the lake's water, Naruto undid his long tress from the entwined hair-band and released his golden locks to dry under the beams of the sun.

Grumbling under his breath, Gaara took out his own band and squeezed the water out of his red hair, while Kyuubi still glared at the grinning _evil-child_ innocently walking over to stand in front of him…

"Good morning to you too, _sensei_!" teasingly chirped the blond…

_

* * *

_

As the day passed… Naruto and Gaara took that time in explaining Kyuubi everything about their world and process of the merge, which the demon was quite surprised and interested in… – the scarred tattoos on their backs being the particular interest of the story.

As for Naruto and Gaara, the slight shock came when the demon appeared to be a free being and never once to be summoned…until now.

The demon didn't mind making Naruto his henchman, as for the payment the teen shall respect his freedom and never allow anyone else to gain his summon.

The day flew past as nightfall came… and both 'brothers' were set to move out.

As the giant fox disappeared, Naruto and Gaara took that time to compile on a little plan before infiltrating the village (about three miles south from the direction they came).

_

* * *

_

Concealing away every last bit of his chakra, Gaara hid in shadows and waited for his 'brother' at the other side of the Sea village's wall.

Naruto jumped from the village's wall and elegantly landed in front of his 'brother', who was leaning against the said wall while sitting.

Coming closer to kneel next to him, Naruto quietly dug something in the bag he brought.

He took out two black t-shirts, new pants and two black skull-bandannas. Gaara eyed the bandannas and looked at his 'brother', who silently pointed at his ears – signing him to cover them so there will be fewer questions.

Putting on the new garments, Naruto then helped his 'brother' to his feet and while supporting him, they took off back to the forest… as of tomorrow they will head to the Sea village as common-_travelers_.

_

* * *

_


	5. Chapter 5

* * *

'_**Chapter 5'**_

* * *

As the sun finally rose, two figures could be seen approaching the gates of the Sea village…

The sitting guardians by the gates looked up as two teens came to halt in front of them.

"Hello, how may we be of assistance to you?!" greeted one of the two guards while he and his companion subconsciously roomed their eyes all over the boys' hypnotic bodies.

Naruto and Gaara's sweat-drop once they saw a little drool coming from the guards' mouth's corner…

"Umm… 'khem'…" coughing out the uneasiness and ignoring the hungry looks, Naruto spoke, "Hello! Me and my brother are traveling back to the Fire country and decided to make a short stop at this here land."

"I see!" nodded the first guardian, before greeting, "Well then, welcome to the village of the Sea! Now… do you carry any luggage with you?" he curiously asked eyeing any signs of bags, except the small one on the blond's shoulder.

"Naah…, we already shifted most of our belongings straight to the Tea country to one of our friends' place to prevent lesser hassle…, so there should be no worries about that."

"Oh… Where'd you travel from?" asked the second guard, grinning in a slight flirt-hitch tone, while resting his face on his left-hand.

"Marsh country," emotionlessly stated the apparently annoyed red-head, making the guards quite uneasy at his warning stare and threatening voice.

Swallowing a little lump, the first guard got straight back to business, "Ok then…, please, pay the border money and you may go in. Just show me your traveling identification cards and sign here."

"There's a nice motel about thirty meters west, thought that you would like to… _check in_," still not satisfied yet, seductively informed the second guard, making teens' hands twitch and beg for a punch.

"Thank you!" said the blond as he finished putting his signature, paid the cash, grabbed their stolen under-sealed travelers' cards, and rather quickly grabbed Gaara and walked off before the red-head could slam that already forming sand behind the two would've-been-unfortunate guards.

Reaching the mentioned motel, Naruto signed them for five week long residence and dragged Gaara to their room, after paying the manager.

"How are you feeling?" closing the door and dropping the last night's stolen bag aside, asked Naruto once they finally got to the room.

Gaara momentarily plopped down on one of the room's beds. Being forced to use his still weak and hurting legs, in order to hide the suspicion from guards and drove less attention from everyone else, he was terribly exhausted.

"This is ridiculous Naruto. I can't walk!" clenching the bed-sheets with his both hands, Gaara tried to maintain his anger under control and try not to destroy the whole motel with it.

Taking off his black sandals and saying nothing, Naruto walked further inside while getting rid of the t-shirt. Leaving himself bare-chested, he went over to open a window and let the breeziness of the wind cool the room.

Yanking his own shirt off, rather pissed, Gaara carelessly dropped it aside and laid back down; sighing deeply he sank his fingers in his hair.

Naruto glanced at him from the corner of his eye before turning his back to the opened window and leaning his back against the windowsill. Silently examining the red-head for some time, Naruto then suggested, "You do know that I could…" but he was harshly cut off by his friend's warning tone,

"No! You will not do it!"

Narrowing his eyebrows, Naruto persisted, "You know that it's the only wa-…"

"I said NO!" shooting to his hands, Gaara sat and scowled at his 'brother'.

Both glared at each other for a whole minute till Naruto finally snarled and turned his glare out the window. Clouds began to gather. "Storm is coming up," calmly informed the blond, changing the subject.

Sighing, Gaara dropped himself back on the bed and closed his eyes, "Naruto… I…" he wanted to apologize…

…but the blond slowly shook his head, already knowing that the red-head is not used to such things as _apology_, so he said to him, "No…, it's alright…I understand."

Opening his eyes, the red-head tilted his head to look at his 'brother' who turned to him with a reassuring smile. Giving a small smile in return, Gaara then closed his eyes and relaxed.

Naruto's smile disappeared the moment Gaara closed his eyes and he turned away to look out at the street, as he pondered his mind… …

* * *

Naruto woke up at the sounds of light screams coming from his red-headed companion…

It was in the middle of the night, the third day since they got to the village.

…Jumping from his bed and approaching the second (across the room), he absorbed his sleeping 'brother's' subconscious fidgeting. Quick ants and slight whimpers with disturbing screams made Naruto clench his fingers.

'_It's happening again! …Dam it! I have to do it!' _informing his own mind Naruto suddenly outstretching his hand, prepared to… …, but stopped in mind-track as memories ran past –

"_Naruto, promise me…, promise you won't use that jutsu!" _Gaara's words roomed through the blond's head like a prayer.

"_I know we cannot go to the doctor and this jutsu seems it would be the only way. But the drug will soon end… I can feel it; my legs are regaining their strength once more… the body is fighting back the poison. …Just -…"_

Retrieving his hand to his side, Naruto took a slow step back.

"…_- promise me! You won't do anything!"_

Scowling at Gaara's shaking, sweaty form, Naruto then turned around and walked back to his bed.

"_What is to happen through nights shall happen. And I don't want you to even think and come near me when it does!"_

The words echoed through his head – reminding him the conversation he went through with his 'brother' the first time he found out about Gaara's muscle-cells'-intoxication (two days ago)…

…Such case required an immediate medical run-through, however 'brothers' did not have (or rather – weren't able to steal…) so such money for the necessary treatment and nor did they dare risk Gaara's skin on becoming a live experiment if anyone were to find out the power hidden under the innocents of those eyes by a simple research.

Lying down on his back, Naruto closed his eyes, ignoring all sounds in the room…

"_I promise…"_

* * *

It's been a week since Naruto and Gaara arrived in the Sea village…, however, none of them were frequently seen in the streets of the Sea lands.

Gaara's heath was worsening with each night; Because of this, he was confined to the bed while Naruto took care of him. The blond left him only then when they ran out of food or when his legs needed to be stretched out, but on the whole he stayed in the inn with his 'brother'…

So went the days… and Naruto was once again found walking the same road while carrying a bag of groceries. As he walked, he took what little time he had to think upon the situation that considered Gaara…, though his thoughts were soon interrupted by a sudden wet drop on his forehead. Looking up, Naruto blinked at the dark sky – it was night already,

'_Rain…'_

Looking around Naruto made sure no-one saw him before he jumped away from the empty street and onto the roofs – quickly making his way back to the motel and out of the rain.

Entering the inn and locking the door behind him, Naruto took off his shoes and wet shirt. Placing the items aside and the fruits in the kitchen, he then went to the bedroom.

Closing the wooden-door behind him, Naruto rested his back against it and quietly absorbed the lying form in one of the room's beds.

Gaara looked really pale – paler than usual…

After five minutes of quiet staring, Naruto pushed himself away from the door and slowly walked over to the red-head. Stopping at the end of the bed, the blond stared as the red-head slept while heavily breathing through his dreams.

'_It's becoming worse with each night,' _narrowing his brows and ignoring all thoughts and last conversations he so tried to win against his 'brother', Naruto inhaled deeply before climbing on top of the bed and going over to straddle the lying shirtless body's hips.

Gaara responded only by a little twitch in the eye.

Bringing his slightly shaking left-hand up Naruto gently cover Gaara's mouth, while the other hand was placed on top of the red-head's bare abdomen.

Closing his eyes, Naruto tensed up…. Slowly one after the other tails came out till the amount of five. Naruto's hand on the red-head's abdomen started to glow the darkest color of bloody-red; long nails came out and moved to position themselves on top of the pale-skin over the bellybutton. The black-red chakra abruptly faded from the hand and crawled over to Naruto's long nails – covering them with the said chakra as they started to glow.

"Forgive me, brother…! But promises are meant to be broken… – …sometimes."

With that said, chakra-intact-nails pierced through the pale-flesh. Gaara's eyes flung open and he arched – screaming like mad, though the screams never came 'cause of the gripping hand holding his mouth shut.

Gaara's hands quickly grasped Naruto's wrist, trying to yank it off of his mouth…but it was useless.

Naruto ignored the tight grip and endless scratches that his flesh had to suffer as he kept pouring the black-red chakra from the tip of his nails into the pale-body.

Tears streamed down the skinny cheeks of his red-headed friend but were still blind to the blond. Naruto kept his face focused all the time, ignoring all yells and desperate screams that came from the teen.

Gaara's whole body was burning from the inside. Red chakra invaded his blood – destroying every venom covered cells and replacing them with new ones.

With time… the tight grip and clenches to his wrist ceased as Gaara slowly faded to unconsciousness.

The tails disappeared…

Gently releasing the now quite bloodied nail-hold on the red-head's flesh, Naruto opened his eyes and heavily gasped for the air. Climbing off of the other teen, Naruto suddenly fell from his limping feet to the floor on his back.

Hissing, Naruto grabbed hold of his aching head and calmed his pants from the needed short ones to slow and more heavy ones…

'_Dear Lord! …It's torture…'_ thought the blond before he fell into the darkness…

* * *

Squirming in his sleep, Naruto felt himself reaching his wake. Groaning, he carefully lidded his eyes open…though he did not get far as he suddenly received a painful punch right across the face – rolling over from the impact, he fell off the bed.

"I deserve it,"guessed the blond while gently rubbing his cheek.

"IDIOT! Why can't you listen to me for once, you moron?!"

"Yes…, Good morning, Gaara! I see you're as cheerful this morning as you ever were…" still lying on the floor waved the blond, "Though I can't say you have a very good way of waking people up."

Gaara had to respect the teen's stupidity of endurance. _'Here I am kicking you…and all you do is great me a happy morning?! Little bastard!'_

Heavily sighing, angry Gaara walked over to the teen and helped him to his feet.

"The jutsu worked out successful… no damage!" saving the useless speech for later, Gaara went straight to the point and informed the blond of his condition – all the way noticeably showing off that he is able to walk and move on his own again – the punch being a good example of that…

"Glad you're finally healed," standing to his feet, keeping his eyes close, smiled the dazed-happy-blond holding his spinning forehead.

"I am…" agreed Gaara, before he crossed his arms and carefully eyed his 'brother', "…but are you?"

"Hmm?"

"How are you feelin'?"

"Oh…umm… great!? All is fine." nodding his head in agreement, Naruto weakly grinned through nearly closed eyes while slowly listing to the right.

"Is that so?" skeptically thought the red-head, grabbing the dazed blond's elbow before he could fall down from the lack of balance.

Considering another given smile as a response from the _fox's_ approval, Gaara then closed his worried eyes and quietly whispered, "Thank you!"

Naruto loosened a little laugh in return, "You're weird…"

Smiling at the cheerfulness of a spirit, Gaara quickly decided to change the subject – not being a sensitive kind of type for long and all…. "I got us a part time job at the Construction base," suddenly exclaimed the red-head while Naruto tried to fix his standing angle.

"Really?!" still in little wave of a daze, Naruto looked like a drunk-happy-fool, "I was out that long that you already gain us a job?! My-my…" honorably cheered the blond.

"Two weeks…" growled irate, yet very worried for the blond-boy, red-head, "You were out for two fucking weeks!"

"Oh…"

"Yeah… _oh_!" mimicked Gaara. "I woke up the day after you performed that jutsu of a devil, you little _Reynard_!"

"Yea-yea… no need to thank me," retarded the blond, clenching his eyes tight and soothing the spinning head, while making Gaara's eye twitch at his irksome replies. "Anyways, what is that job that you dragged us into?"

"Construction base," replied his friend, "…you and I shall step a foot in this world as common builders."

"Life as normal civilians, huh?!" intrigued, thought the blond, finally able to stand straight.

Shrugging, Gaara let Naruto's elbow go. "Job ain't half bad and the pay is quite acceptable too…, besides we need the money for our next destinations. It would be for the best to keep our abilities hidden …for now."

"Ok…" scratching his head so far agreed the blond, "…that's acceptable. When do we start?"

"Next week," crossing his arms said the red-head, skipping then a glance out the window, "Want to go out… view the area while we're here?!"

Straightening his cracking limbs and muscles, Naruto rubbed his eyes, finally disposing the dizziness off, and gracefully made his way to the door. "Yeah, sure… let me just hit the shower first. Uuff…" suddenly the poor blond hit his head directly at the opened door's rim as he tried to make his way over to the bathroom.

Gaara glanced to the side to see his 'brother' on the floor, holding his slightly bruised forehead, which already started to heal – burning the scar closed. "Are you alright?" _'Maybe he literally wished to 'hit' the shower!?' _thought the red-head, finding a bit of a humor in himself.

"Who put that in there?!" angrily growled the fox at the door.

'…_or not!?'_

Rising his invisible-eyebrow, Gaara stood up from the bed he sat on a moment ago and walked over to the cursing blond. "Need a hand?" Gaara outstretched his hand for him to grab it.

"Yeah…" half lidding his one eye open while still holding his forehead, Naruto reached for the offered hand.

"…?!…" was going through Gaara's mind as he watched his 'brother' grab an umbrella hanging from the coat-hanger instead of his hand and reply with a polite 'thank you' once he stood up.

Still holding 'Gaara's hand', Naruto carefully examined it before barking, "God Gaara, do you know that your hands are kind of rugged and…?!… woody!?" Naruto felt confused. _'What a Hell!??'_

Blinking, Gaara's eye skipped a twitch, "Maybe it's because you are holding an umbrella instead of my hand?!"

"…?!… …?!… Really?"

"Really!" crossing his arms on his chest, Gaara scowled at the blond.

"…"

"…"

"…oh…" frowning, Naruto hid his face deeper behind the bangs as he finally understood what's beginning to happen to him…

"Naruto, what's going on?!" serious voice suddenly met the tanned-ears.

"Nooo-thing…" innocently Naruto outstretched the syllables.

"Tell me!" harshly – promising broken bones – demanded Gaara.

"Ok!" momentarily obeyed the blond.

"…" Gaara waited.

"…" Naruto still kept quiet.

"NARUTO!" _panda's_ patience exploded.

"Ok-ok!" defensively said the _fox_, agreeing to tell. Lowering his head, Naruto lowly mumbled under his breath, "I-cn-t-se!"

Blinking, Gaara re-asked, "What?" trying to sharpen his ears this time.

Inhaling, Naruto scowled to himself and repeated – more accurately, "I can't…see…"

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Gaara decided that he was hearing things…, "What?!"

The blond's eyebrow twitched. "Must I spell it out for you?!"

"If it's not too much to ask!?" rubbing his temples boringly pleaded his 'brother'.

Sighing, Naruto sat on the floor cross-legged and kept his head down, refusing to look upwards, "When I performed the demonic healing jutsu on you…I healed your body till the amount of hundred percent, …"

Gaara felt himself start to fume – already knowing that the amount of forty percent is more than enough to heal him…, but knowing Naruto he will always whether overreact or do things more than they must be done…

…Not only that, but there is also a price that you must pay for the 'devil's' jutsu that Naruto inherited from his Bijuu…

Unfortunately, even at Naruto's level of power there can be no escape from the consequences it _might_ put you through, which is – take the most vulnerable thing of the performer…. In Naruto's case it would be – …

"…but it cost me…" _'As Kyuubi already warned me,'_ continued the blond while thinking to himself.

"What did it cost you?" narrowing his invisible-brows, demandingly but still under control, asked Gaara.

Swallowing, Naruto whispered but loud enough for Gaara to hear 'im, "Since the drugged acid-liquid hit my eyes (back in the dungeon), they were the first and weakest alternative. … …I lost my vision, Gaara."

Gaara quietly stared at his 'brother' before he glared death and harshly kicked the door behind him – breaking it to shreds. Naruto didn't even flinch, staying silent – already familiar with such attitude.

"FUCK!" enraged, Gaara stood up and began passing the room. "Dam it, Naruto!! You… WHY DID…" clenching his head, he trailed off and inhaled deeply – trying to calm down. "I can't… I can't believe this…," exhaled the red-head, before he yelled again, "Damn you, Naruto!! I thought that you… God! Why did you do this?"

"It was already bound to happen!" sternly said the blond.

"FUCK YOU!" interrupted and shouted the red-head.

Not listening, Naruto kept talking, "The fate was sealed, Gaara! I didn't want to tell you this but with each passing day I began losing more of my vision. It had to be done! I did not dare risk something else, so I took this to my advantage," on the dead spoke the blond.

Running his hands through his hair, Gaara deeply frowned, clenching his eyes shut and gritting his teeth. "SHIT!" he cursed once more and hit the standing stool away. _'This should have _never_ happened!'_

…After a few minutes of silence, Gaara shakily exhaled his frustration and anger out before looking at the quietly sitting blond on the floor. _'Naruto…' _lidding his eyes softly, Gaara walked over and kneeled in front of his friend. He gently took his 'brother's' face in his hands and pulled it up to look at him. "Naruto, open your eyes," shaking and slightly teary but quite demanding voice said.

Slowly Naruto opened them, but kept them in the shade under his bangs.

Swallowing, Gaara calmed a bit more before whispering brokenly, "Naruto… look at me!"

Naruto in return tiredly blinked under his bangs.

Clearing his suddenly lost voice, Gaara pleaded more gingerly and softly, "Naruto…please look at me!"

Sighing, he finally hoisting his head up to show Gaara his eyes…, though they weren't looking at him but slightly to the side.

Gaara let out a choked gasp as he stared at the eyes of his best-friend…

…Once the light of deep blue was now tainted – Naruto's eyes' sclera was now a dreadful color of flowed out blood with visible black-red blood-vessels cracking it; the deep blue irises stayed in the same color, but were now invaded with three dirty-green rings closely around the pupil. It was a terrifying sight to behold…

Deep-green eyes set free tears to wash Gaara's cheeks; Gaara didn't even feel himself crying as he stared at the lost eyes of his 'brother'.

"…no…" slightly shaking his head whispered the red-head, daring not to admit that the most sparkling color is fading like this…

"What have I done?" letting all his pride to hell, whimpered the broken emotion of Gaara's heart. Clenching his eyes tightly shut, Gaara sank lower to the floor while still clenching to his best-friend's face.

Naruto gathered him in his arms and held him close, gently resting his chin on top of the messy red-locks. "Shh… you have nothing to do with this," calmed the blond, rubbing his 'brother's' back.

Gaara quickly brought his hands around Naruto's waist, bringing him closer, and buried his face in the bare chest – shakily inhaling and just as shakily exhaling…

They stayed like this for minutes, composing themselves while Gaara quietly whispered apologetic words, "I'm sorry… Naruto… I am so sorry…"

He felt so much guilt… so much pain…

The _fox_ let a laugh skip his throat at the needless apologies, "What are you apologizing for, _panda_?"

Swallowing his dry voice away, Gaara quietly spoke, afraid to break the comfortable silence, "If I would've been more careful…I would've never endanger you like this."

"What are you talking about? As if I don't endanger my life as it already is. …Anyway, that still doesn't make up for your weeping excuse," teased the blond.

"Sh-shut up!" playfully barked the red-head. "Were I more careful I wouldn't have let us get captured so to endure your stupidity of over-protectiveness, knowing fully well that you would gladly kill yourself if there would be no other choice…"

Naruto's eye twitched, "Well _sorry_, if I'm trying to look after my 'baby bro-OWw…"

"Who the fuck are you calling a _baby brother_? You're younger than me, you little shrimp!"

Growling through his teeth, Naruto rubbed his stomach. "I am no shrimp, you bastard! And I'm only a couple of months younger that's all," huffed the accused blond.

"Whatever you say… little brother," chuckled Gaara and quickly jumped away as Naruto tried to hit him in the face.

"AAaargg… GAARA! Come back! It's not fair! I'm still not used to this!" pouted the blond, searching the darkness for something resembling Gaara so that he could kill it.

A slight snuff and a chuckle came from his best-friend as he walked over and gently pulled him to his feet.

* * *

"Good morning, Gennou!" Gaara politely greeted an old-man sitting on the building site's ladders while writing down the parameters on the out-rolled paper. This man could be call as the one in charge or the 'brothers'' new-boss. He was no younger than sixty years. Had short, a bit-spiky at the back, brown hair, little bit tanned skin; wore glasses, purple blazer, purple jeans and a loose white scarf hanging around his neck, and glaucous tight hat fixing his hair.

Glancing up, he fixed his glasses and kindly smiled to the approaching newcomer, "Aa… nice day, Gaara! Who's it going so far?"

"Can't complain," boringly shrugged the red-head, making the man chuckle all the way saying 'teenagers'. Quickly finishing his last postscripts, the man called Gennou then stood up and signaling Gaara to follow him inside the building, where workmen took place.

Ignoring the predatory-looks coming from the abruptly very interested builders, and trying _really_ hard to calm his shaking fist, Gaara kept following the old-man further in.

Both soon entered a room where all the equipments were kept. Gennou placed his scroll on the table and reached over to the bunch of mixed papers, looking through the thick, messy pile he finally came with the necessary,

"There!" he said, checking the papers through his glasses before turning around and handing them to Gaara, "Here, this is the contract from the previous days. I finally managed to make those damn copies." laughed the old-man while cleaning his spectacles with a tissue.

"Thank you," thanked the red-head with a barely visible smile at the corner.

Putting his glasses back on, Gennou abruptly cleared his throat before speaking in a wary voice, "Gaara, I couldn't help but notice something…" not feeling quite easy with a touchy subject that he is about to bring, he subconsciously scratched his neck. "Your brother… Naruto was it?! Yes! He… I… well…" scratching his neck, the old-man didn't know how he could say it without hurting the others feelings…. He had seen both boys once walking through the town carrying groceries…and the very first thing that disturbed the man greatly was when he saw that the blond boy was actually blind…

"Yes, I know!" deciding not to torment his new-boss, Gaara spoke in understanding, "I know what you think and understand it. However, I shall tell you this – he might be blind…but such 'trivial things' – as he calls them himself – never stopped him at anything…. Sometimes it never ceases to surprise me still." smiled the red-head when he saw Gennou chuckle a bit.

Sighing, Gaara closed his eyes, "Please, don't have doubts on him. Giving a chance, he can be more than a good assist. Even in his current condition he can kill without seeing an enemy."

"K-kill!?" startled at the sudden use of the word, in a bit of a scared tone, Gennou shuddered.

For some seconds Gaara went silent, absorbing the man quietly, showing no expression which frankly scared the man even more. "It's just a phrase," Gaara then simply stated, cursing himself for his lack of civilian-speech.

"Oh…" exhaling deeply, Gennou had to laugh at the sudden fear that washed over him from the red-head's piercing stare.

* * *

"So it's settled! Bring the boy and yourself on Monday's morning after breakfast. Then we'll started from there." kindly informed the old-man while escorting Gaara to the room's door.

"We'll do," shortly informed the red-head before respectfully bowing and leaving. Gennou waved him off before going back to his scroll.

Shoving his hands in his pockets, Gaara gracefully made his way to the exit, ignoring the whistles, calls and all the lustful gazes following him…till…

"Nice ass!" suddenly someone slapped him right across his firm butt-cheeks, making the sound echo through the whole building and Gaara froze in the moment.

'_That's it!'_

Suddenly there was a crack on a freshly cemented wall – right next to the smug, smirking builder's left-side – and before one could blink, the whole damn wall abruptly went falling down right on the poor _slapper_. Fortunately for him, the wall was rather thin and still not hard enough to count the loss of any bones…

**WHAAMMM**

Dust flew everywhere as the wall crumbled and crushed down on the man. Everyone quickly jumped and rushed to assist the unlucky fool of a builder who was whining for help.

'_Good thing that the cement is formed from the mix of the sand…' _thought amused red-head watching the men help the idiot out, _'Hm…, I might actually like it in here.'_

"Be careful around here, Gaara! Such things are quite rare on happening, but they do…as you can already see," chuckled Gennou, approaching the scene and referring to the wreckage and the woozy-builder. "Are you alright, by the way?" he asked turning to his new-employee standing at the edge of the fallen wall's ruins.

"No worries," smirked the red-head before turning around and calmly heading out of the building.

* * *

Entered the inn's room, Gaara yelled out, "I'm back!"

"Yeah, whatever!" came the same yelling voice of his best-friend somewhere from the bedroom.

Rolling his eyes at the intelligent answer and chuckling a little, Gaara took of his shoes and went further inside till he reached the bedroom.

Naruto was in the middle of the room, relaxing and standing upside down on the ceiling with his wet-hair hanging loosely almost touching the ground. Clad only in boxers, he kept his eyes closed and arms folded.

"Drying your hair?" asked Gaara, walking over to the bathroom that was across the bedroom, all the way stripping himself off.

"Mmm…" Naruto grunted in response.

Heading into the shower, Gaara washed himself off while talking (or rather yelling, since the running water blocked the sound) to Naruto, "I got the contract. The guy's name's Gennou… I think he ain't half bad." Gaara informed his friend about the papers and their boss.

"Gennou, huh…!?" whispery thought Naruto before asking the man's age, "How old?"

"Sixty…, seventy…!?…" shrugging yelled the red-head before turning off the water and stepping out, "Neither for mine or your tastes anyway." Gaara smiled as he heard Naruto chuckle at the joke.

Stepping out the bathroom in his towel around the waist, water dripping from the loose hair, Gaara went over to stand in front of the blond's upside-down turned face, noses almost touching, "Guess what happened today."

"Hmm…" frowning in thought, Naruto then smirked, "You got rape-OWw…"

"You would do yourself a favor if you could fix that head of yours some day!" roared and glared the red-head, going to the closet to put some boxers on.

"Guess not then," chuckled Naruto while holding his cheek which Gaara slapped not too gently.

Gaara's eye twitched at that. "In anyways…, do keep in mind that regardless of …_the situation_… that might occur during our time here, you are forbidden to kill them!"

Frowning at the statement, Naruto crossed his arms, "Maybe the next thing you will say is for me to stop breathing? Tell me…, why am I friends with you again?!"

"Whatever, _little brother_. Come down, I have something for you," waving his hand dismissingly, Gaara went over to his previously stripped off clothes and picked up his pants, ignoring Naruto's curses for the given name.

Fishing through the pockets, he turned just as Naruto landed on the ground.

Standing still, Naruto heard his 'brother' approach him and bind something around his closed eyes.

"There," Gaara said as he finished fastening a blood-red, silky blindfold on Naruto's eyes, which almost matched his two red-bangs, only it was a bit darker.

"This is a blindfold. Specially for the people with no vision. It should be quite comforting and placatory; …should calm your eyes."

Naruto touched the comfortingly cool silk that covered and settled his intense eyes, and couldn't help but smile. "What color?"

"Dark-red – same as your hair… almost."

"Thank you!" grinned the blond.

"Sure!" smiled the red-head.

* * *

Days flew past and both 'brothers' quickly got used to their new changes – a calm and peaceful civilian life, much to their surprise, wasn't half as bad or boring as they thought it would be.

Naruto and Gaara really did become a great asset to the Construction base. The two adorable angels were like the strongest light and link of all days worth living. With their help, the developments in the construction business progressed to a grand profit.

Gennou smiled as he watched Gaara and Naruto carry nineteen large 2x4's to the second floor, and then start nailing them to the ground.

Everyone gawked as the blind-boy hit every nail with perfect accuracy – nailing it directly at the very spot it was needed.

"_Blindness is but a little misfortune… His sense to reflexes are as sharp as any animal alive, if not even more challenging…" _red-head's words echoed through the old-man's mind while he walked up to the second floor, bringing scrolls and other items with 'im.

Every time the blind-boy worked, it looked as if he was the same as any other builder, despite the fact that he can't see, he was even better at the job.

In whole, it was soon said that Gaara and Naruto's skills could be called the breakdown of all laws possible and impossible…

"Life sure is going to change with these two here… real soon," thought smiling Gennou.

* * *

It took time…, but eventually everyone in the building area slowly made amends with the two boys…; not only that but almost everyone in the area soon learned to keep their pants on, 'cause whenever they were whether to make a physical or verbally-unacceptable contact with the two – there was destined an 'accident' happening soon….

Naruto and Gaara quickly recuperated their friends' long lost nickname among their coworkers; however, most of the builders insisted on them to be called the 'brothers of evil', 'brothers of disaster' or 'cursed brothers' instead of simply 'brothers'…

"…'Cause whenever I touch them, something comes falling down on me!!" quoted most of the whining men at the mentioned subject…

…Which pretty soon led them to this one thought – _'maybe the two adorable angels are not angels at all?!'_ …

* * *


	6. Chapter 6

* * *

'_**Chapter 6'**_

_

* * *

_

Loud screams… _never to be heard…_

Clouded skies… _never to be ignored…_

Drops of a heavy rain… _never to be felt…_

…All gone…once gained and then lost…

…A Grim-day arouse in two villages…

Two small souls – buried under the strong hold of Sand and Leaf's border – the symbolization of peace, brotherhood, friendship and union between two strongest Nations…

'_Konohagakure…' 'Sunagakure…'_

Two boys… – two brothers… – two friends… two children… – both unknown and mysterious to the world…

'…_made a sacrifice…'_

The sacrifice of no return and new life…

'_The leaf was hidden…as the sand protectively covered it with its being…'_

_

* * *

_

_A/N – This story is divided into 2parts – the 1__st__ being Naruto & Gaara in the parallel Universe (meaning the one that you will read now or if you will!?), and the 2__nd__ – Naruto & Gaara as children in Konoha… (…which will be pretty afar for the nearest future to come…)_

_

* * *

_

Yawning, Naruto stretched himself as he got up. Rubbing his eyes, he then blinked a couple of times,

'_Nothing…'_

Frowning, the blond inwardly saddened, cursing himself for becoming blind – surrounded by the so long breaking darkness that is coming back again.

Sensing no presence in the room, Naruto got up and made a quick journey to the bathroom before calling out, "Gaara!" Rubbing his eyes, Naruto went for the search of his 'brother'.

As of cue… Gaara calmly walked into the room. Stopping in front of the blond, he handed him a glass of water and a small pill.

Sniffing out the scent of a medicine along with the liquid in the warm body's grasp (meaning Gaara), Naruto reached out for the items to take.

That would be the way Naruto is able to see things – the feeling through the warmth and the coldness of the energy.

The light touch of his hand almost shows Naruto the wanted image of whether the object or a person. Along with the scent he can pick up a spirit of a person's being; something he already learned from the Kyuubi, when he and Gaara were forced to fight each other without the usage of their sight – the show was quite awkward and weird from the third person's perspective…, however later it became another broken rule of the humans' capability, which should be by all means impossible to comprehend in a date of time.

Swallowing the small pill to soothe his eyes, Naruto drank the water while Gaara tied the blindfold around his tainted eyes, and then followed his silent friend to the kitchen, all the way sliding his hand over the wall for a better encouragement.

"It's been almost two months now. And the damn motel is not helping either. It's charging way too much money," unsatisfied growled the red-head, seating himself on a stool.

"Mmmrhm…" not being quite awoken yet, Naruto mumbled something and heavily plopped on the kitchen's chair; sighing and eating his morning toast.

Saving meaningless speech, Gaara asked, "When do we leave?"

"Hmm…" thinking the blond shrugged, "Today?!"

"Don't be so rushed," said Gaara, finishing eating, "I suggest we first inform Gennou that we're leaving and _then_ at least in two-days, not less, maybe we'll go."

"Mmm… I don't really care," shrugging, sleepily mumbled Naruto while scanning the room for something delicious that will satisfy his needs. "You can tell him that we're quiting and then tell me when we're leaving. I'll go get dressed," finding nothing delicious, disappointed, Naruto walked out.

After a quick bite of another toast for Naruto and a freshening shower for Gaara (since Naruto was too lazy anyway), they set off to work.

Diving his hands in pockets, Naruto waited while Gaara closed the door and both then made their way to the Construction base, sweetly taking their time.

"So…" starting their walk with a little conversation, Gaara cleared his throat, "Since we shall soon shift off…; our next point will be Konoh-…?!"

"No," emotionlessly and a bit too rashly abruptly said the blond.

Ignoring the smell of desire and lustful looks they received from the villagers they past, Naruto elaborated the clueless red-head, "I just lied to the guards about Konoha back then. We did need a cover is all."

"I see… Well then, what would you suggest we plan on doing?"

Thinking on that, Naruto lashed his grin out, "Travel the world. Always wanted to see it… I mean feel it," cheered the blond but saddened at the last part, remembering that the sight of the world's beauty is unreachable for him now.

Encircling his arm around the 'brother's' shoulder to calm him down, Gaara decided a change of subject, "Because the nearest village from this land is the Tea country, I guess this will be our second step… correct?"

"Yeah, that would do…"

"And after that there will be Fire coun-…"

"No!"

Rolling his eyes, Gaara annoyingly sighed, "Naruto, I'm not talking about the village _specifically_! And besides…, don't you really wish to be home? At least somewhere near it?! What about our friends-…"

"These are no longer _our_ friends, Gaara. They're strangers to us now… "

"What about your father?"

"The last of the world's wished-to-see-people!" the sentence went off a little too full of venom.

Exhaling, Gaara rubbed his forehead; He rarely asked Naruto about his family, since it is a very touchy and painful subject for the boy.

Ever since becoming an Anbu (or in his eyes an _ultimate tool_), Naruto had all of the access to the sealed scripts of Konoha's history and Hokage's hidden scrolls… – that being a perfect source of the mystery behind the Uzumaki and Namikaze's secrets, which were his family…

A Grim-day for Naruto's life once he found out the name of his father – the Saviour of Konohagakure, Naruto's childhood idol, the sealer of a best and… a nightmare of his life.

"…_If there really was no other way, he could have sealed Kyuubi inside of himself and die his honorable death along with the demon if he wished it so much…, but chose to create a tool out of his own son for the sake of _that_ village. If it wouldn't have been for him there would be no Akatsuki, there would be no other __Jinchuuriki__ who would have died from the extraction, because the spell or whatever the hell it is called cannot be performed without the presence of the last of the beasts. …And most of all – there would've been no…pain…" _that was the outburst of the blond-teen once he told Gaara about his father – Minato Namikaze, the Yondaime Hokage (Fourth Fire Shadow).

"Understand, Gaara," a sad, emotionlessly hurt voice brought Gaara back from his memories, "I don't wish to see… no – scratch that – 'feel' the presence of that bastard of a father of mine. And believe me…if I will, I might not hesitate in killing him one day!"

Glancing at his 'brother', Gaara then looked up at the sky as four birds flew pass. "The Fourth-Hokaga, huh…" he whispered to the air…

_

* * *

_

"Gennou!?" called Gaara as he entered his boss's office in search for him.

"Hey, Gaara!" came a welcoming calling from the backdoor, "Come in! Sit down!" the old-man said as he walked in through the backdoor and signed the teen to sit on a nearby couch below the window. "You wished to talk to me about something I presume?"

Receiving a nod, Gennou held up his hand before the red-head could speak, "Ok, but before you go any further…I have something I must inform you about. And I do believe you're going to like it," spoke Gennou in a happy mood.

Blinking on that, Gaara listened.

"Because of our high approval in this firm, we're receiving many invitational-letters from other countries, which are in need of our specialization."

Nodding in understanding, Gaara signaled him to continue.

"And for that we are being needed of a help in one of the Great Nations…" Smiled the old-man, "…And as of meaning – the Fire country."

"Fire…country…?!" Gaara sensed the up-soon-coming headache from Naruto; he pretty much already knew where this was going. But still hoped to doubt himself, _'At least it won't be Kon-…'_

"Yes, that being – Konohagakure," proudly cheered Gennou, ruthlessly crushing Gaara's hopes to pieces, "We are shifting off on the day after tomorrow…, that would be Wednesday; and we need the best there is. So I expect you and your brother to be free on the day of it. Will you?"

'_Great… Naruto will kill me!' _inwardly swallowed Gaara. _'And just how on earth am I supposed to say 'no' to Gennou now?! The old-man wishes too much…; however I can't complain on that – the pay we receive is more than acceptable…, and all in all this could be a good chance for us to get a free trip out of here. That only leaves Konoha. …?!… No! It was always Konoha, the main problem… Shit! Why can't I think first things first?!' _Signing heavily in his head, Gaara leaned back in the couch and kept on staring at the ceiling, whilst Gennou curiously watched the teen's frown deepen before disappearing and re-appearing again…

'_This is hopeless! …since when did I start caring about anything anyway?! Stupid brother – it's your entire fault!'_

"Well… what is your answer?" finally asked Gennou, getting bored of the silence, and cut Gaara in middle thought.

'_I guess it's futile, Naruto.' _sighed Gaara but soon formed his emotionless frown into a 'kind' I-will-do-anything-for-my-lovely-brother smirk, _'Sorry, little-brother, but…'_ "We'll be there!" he finally said. _'Besides… you did wish to travel the world.'_

"Wonderful!" happy with the deal, Gennou then added, "Oh, yes! One more thing. As a celebration of our success, guys are planning on a little party at the Sea-club of Azan's tomorrow-night…. Have you and your brother been informed?"

"Yes, your youngest-son told us about it yesterday."

"Hmm… then it will be all. Now, what was that that you wished to talk to me about?"

Thinking for a moment and finally understanding that nothing that would be a good lie is coming to his head, Gaara shrugged before simply stating, "I will put that thought aside for later…for it must have skipped my mind."

"Heh… teenagers!" laughed the old-man. "By the way, will Naruto be happy with the news?"

"He'll _die_ from happiness," quietly smirked the 'evil-brother' while standing up and walking to the exit. Stopping in his track, Gaara turned to his boss, "If I may ask for a little favor!? …Please tell Naruto we're heading to the Tea country instead of Fire…. I want it to be a surprise."

"You sure are a nice brother, Gaara." smile Gennou, thinking that all for good…

'…_As if…'_

_

* * *

_

The moon shone above the calm sea as it greeted vivid shouts and cheers coming from different night-clubs above the sea-coast…

"Will someone tell me who came up with this brilliant idea of coming here in the first place, hm?!" sighed seemingly annoyed voice of a man standing along with a bunch of slowly gathering gang by the club's entrance.

"Well I think it's a very good idea to gather my most friendliest friends together and spend the friendship of our new men-ship together, Deidara-san! Since Tobi is a good boy!"

"Wha-?!" Deidara arched his fine brow in confusion, understanding none of the cheerful twenty-year-old man's words; however before he could go any further, a vociferous voice meddled in,

"Shut up, wusses! And Kakuzu, get a fuck inside already and buy me that damn drink you promised!"

"I do not do promises, Hidan! And No! I won't buy you that damn drink! It's too expensive! Go get it yourself!"

"Kiss my ass, you fuck of a cheapskate! I will allow you that for free!" yelled irritated white-haired man called Hidan.

"What you said, you little shit?!" clenching his fist, Kakuzu, who had half of his face hid behind a dark mask, was ready to go into an ugly fist-fight, but was cut short by an annoyed blue-skinned man,

"Will you move it already!?" he roared and harshly pushed the man called Kakuzu through the club's door along with rest of the _idiots_.

Finally setting inside, all six men gathered in one round-table at the far corner from the dance floor.

Sighing, Deidara plopped his ass next to a quiet, handsome red-haired man named Sasori, who set by still bickering couple – Hidan and Kakuzu, with Tobi sitting in front of them and humming to the background's music, while a large shark-like-man called Kisame went to get the orders.

Leaning on his mouth-ish hand, Deidara boringly eyed their surroundings from his visible eye. Looking at the entrance door, he saw a gang of cheerful people enter it…

…Arching his brow in interest, he eyed two boys enter behind the happy-fools with a grinning one by the blind-boy's side discussing something.

Blinking interestingly at the freely moving blind-boy, Deidara scowled when he couldn't get to see him better because of the shadowed dark lights of the bar. But soon that was not that important as something else suddenly caught his attention. – Someone was piercing him mercilessly. His eyes stopped right on the red-head who walked next to the blind-boy, and was staring directly at…him.

It took Deidara only a blink of confusion, and when he opened his visible eye back again – the boy was already gone with the rest of the gang. For a moment he thought he felt a gathering amount of killer intent forming in those deep-green eyes as they met with his…

'_But why?!'_

Shaking his head, Deidara shrugged it all off just when Kisame came back with six bottles of different liquor. Grabbing a bottle of 'sake', the high-pony-tailed blond didn't bother the use of a glass and began drinking it all down.

_

* * *

_

After half an hour of drinking, glaring and yelling at each other, the slightly drunk six-man-gang found themselves sitting by now two different tables – drunkards with drunkards and sobers among lesser sobers.

The only thing hearable at the far corner of the bar were loud laughs and growling sounds coming from two still 'sober' men…

"Yeah, what can I say?! I'm just that good, hm!" said Deidara as he gathered the straggly cards on the table and started shuffling them again.

"That only beats one-time. Sooner or later you'll just have to deal with defeat, princess!" roared Kisame, sulking to himself for losing at the game of cards.

"I don't do _defeat _thing, cold-blood."

"Always a confident bitch… Ever think of retiring?"

"Retire is not virile. And face it! There is no denying it when I'm telling you that I _can_ get things going my way through anything and anyone I want. And I mean _anyone_, hm…" smirked Deidara before looking thoughtfully at Kisame, "…even you!"

Choking under his drink, Kisame growled, "Oh, please, Deidara! God forbid!" dismissingly he waved his hand.

"Suit yourself!" shrugged the smug blond and started dealing the cards for three (Tobi, Kisame and himself).

"Believe me I won't," mumbling under his breath, Kisame took a sip of his drink and looked around before he stopped in mind trace as he spotted some_thing_ at the other end of the bar…

…Smirking to himself an formulating a plan, he placed the bottle down and took the dealt cards, focusing on the blond player across the table, "So… you really think that you can get people do your needs just by waving your hand and shooting off good looks, huh?"

Tobi, finding the activity of the two very interesting, as usual, brought his attention from his own cards and eyed them talking over things he did not quite understand….

Placing down one card and scooping another, Deidara stressed, "Not _just_ people…, but _any_ kinds of people!"

Smirking a little, Kisame changed two cards, "And you can make them do everything with a little bat of a lash," that was more of a statement to himself than a question to Deidara.

"Ask Tobi here! He can tell you that there is no man, nor is there a woman who will ever deny me, hm," confident, the long, blond-haired man nodded his head towards blinking short, brown haired, brown-eyed one,

"Huh?!" was Tobi's smart reply, "What happen?! What I do?!" he asked looking confusingly from Deidara to Kisame and back to Deidara again, who simply ignored him.

"Oh really?!" raising his brow at the blond, Kisame placed his cards down in triumph.

"Sure thing!" snapping his fingers, Deidara put down his cards as well and smirked at the glaring shark-like-man who eyed the cards as if trying to burn them, since he lost…again, and crying Tobi in the background, for losing as well, did not help in making them burn faster.

"All I have to do is call and it shall happen!" feeling full of himself, Deidara crossed his legs, his arms and leant back in the seat.

"Well then…" stopping his glare, since it did not work, Kisame suggested, "…how about a bet?"

"Don't you ever hear what others tell you? You really are annoying, deaf-shark. Fine! Name it!" rolling his eyes and cleaning his nails, boringly challenged Deidara.

Smirking, Kisame pointed at the far corner of the club.

Raising a thin-brow, Deidara look behind his back and eyed the same blond-boy he saw a while ago sitting across the red-head who he already had an awkward 'encounter' with.

"Make him do a dance for you!" grinned the blue-colored man, making Tobi's mouth open and cheeks slightly blush at the dare.

"Pft… easy, un!" smugly said Deidara as he grabbed his bottle and finished the drink. "You really think that such trivial things as blindness of the boy will make him deny me? Then guess what!? I won't even have to leave my seat here for that to happen, hm!" With that said he called for a man who happened to walk pass, carrying drinks, and got his full attention.

The artful blond recognized him as the one who the younger-blond was talking to the moment when he got here. The easygoing man looked not older than nineteen, the same age as he…almost.

Leaning over, Deidara whispered in a pleadingly seductive kind a way, "There is a little …_something_… I would like to ask of you!"

"W…what would that be?!" blind by desire, stuttered the young-man.

"I'm offering you to have a little game of cards with me, hm," Deidara kept on playing with the young-man's emotion. "If you'll lose in three rows… there will be a little favor to fulfill." leaning away, Deidara questionably caught the sweaty man's lustful eyes with his provoking half-lidded one.

Interested, the young-man asked, "What's in it for me?"

Smirking, Deidara stressed, "_Everything_ from me!"

Being a pervert that he is, the young-man swallowed a desirable lump in his throat and agreed…, clueless of the trouble he's getting himself into.

"You're not playing fair, Deidara." moving to let the man sit beside him, Kisame glared at the blond.

In respond, Deidara send him a full grin. _'Whoever said that I would play fair?'_

Shaking his head, Kisame couldn't surpass a forming smirk…, sensing a strange hitch which told him that he might actually like the way it will soon all turn out.

_

* * *

_

Naruto and Gaara were still talking about random things… till they were interrupted by Gennou's son; he looked pale from Gaara's point of view.

"Naruto," embarrassed and ashamed the young-man tried to put right words into a sentence, "I…well… I need your help!"

Sensing a soaking sweat coming from the speaking man, Naruto nodded once and signed him that he has his attention and can ask for the needed favor.

"Well… You see, it's kind of awkward but… there was this girl… who happened to actually be a guy… we played… and… I am… umm…" this just didn't go anywhere.

Gaara started to get irritated, "Spill it already!"

Swallowing hard, he leaned over and whispered something into Naruto's ear…. As he finished, the blond abruptly started laughing…

Arching his invisible-brow in question, Gaara and the rest of startled men by the table wondered what made Naruto laugh like a manic all of a sudden.

"Well…, that is quite…awkward, isn't it!?" chuckled the blond before he burst laughing again.

Twitching, Gaara grabbed Gennou's son by collar and brought him to his face, "What do you want from him?" he asked through clenched teeth – promising death…

"I… we… he… well…"

Shaking his laughter off, Naruto dismissingly waved his hand, "No-no, Gaara. It's okay! I'll do it!"

Glancing at the blind-boy, Gaara loosened the hold on the young-man who sighed in big relieve, and asked, "What do you mean – 'I'll do it!'?"

_

* * *

_

"I told you… - plain!" Deidara smirked back at Kisame as he gracefully made his way over to the 'throne' on the dance-floor.

"You sure are a sly-leech, Deidara!" standing up from the table, the _shark_-man caught up with the blond. "Making others do all the work as usual!"

Cheery Tobi soon ran back over to them, after he was done with preparations.

"You didn't actually suppose I would be able to get the boy do me a thing or two being blind now did ya? And besides, I already did tell you that I can make _others_ do things for me…"

"Whatever, _pretty_!" Kisame just shook his head in amusement, _'This could actually be fun!'_ and stopping with happily jumping Tobi by platform's end-line for audience, preparing to enjoy the entertainment whilst Deidara walked onto that special platform in the middle of the whole dance-floor and happily sighed as he sat on the chair in the middle of it.

_

* * *

_

"Are you sure you wish to do that?" Gaara asked Naruto as they all made their way to the dance-floor.

"I like changes," shrugged the blond.

"I'm pretty sure you do. But really… are these one of the changes you wish to encounter?"

"Bahh… will you stop worrying so much!?"

"It's not _you_ who I'm worried about!" Gaara smirked and joined already formed large group of clapping and whistling spectators around the platform.

Chuckling at the 'brother's' comment, Naruto moved ahead and stepped onto the vacant platform, momentarily sensing the heating energy of his 'costumer'. There was suddenly a low gasp escaping the said 'costumer', which made Naruto laugh in his head.

'_Oh my God! He's…he's beautiful!' _Deidara was mesmerized as he stared at the creature in front of him. He could finally get to see the real beauty of the boy, since the first time he didn't quite get a good look. …But now he had this…this _angel_ standing about mere twelve-feet away from him, giving Deidara an opportunity to eye the boy's every feature – yellow-mixed-red hair hidden behind a black skull-bandanna with the rest tied into an angry tress hanging over his butt, and two long red-bangs forming his face; six deep whisker-marks on cheeks; delicious pink lips; and blood-red blindfold tied around those mysterious eyes.

He was wearing a sleeveless dark-red shirt covering his stomach, shoving only a little line of that sinfully delectable tan-flesh behind the fabric; dark-blue jeans with black sandals to match them; and a black-sash – handing loosely around his hips and over his left-leg's shin.

All Deidara did was swallow…hard, as the beautiful creature suddenly gave him a foxy grin – showing two dangerous fangs… _'Where did I get myself into, un?!' _thought suddenly very nervous Deidara.

'_Time to melt the brain…'_ inwardly said Naruto before the lights on the dance-floor faded completely and changed into exotic red-color, shadowing everything and everyone around it but two men on the platform.

The music started and Naruto began to move…

…_His body moved with grace._

…_No hesitation… not even determination to prove something…, he was just moving… dancing…, flowing along with the rhythm… showing no shame – as if no-one was ever there to see him…_

The music started off at a low pace as the blond gave himself to it. …Sliding his hands all over his moving body, he moved just like a snake…

…Floating in a perfect union with the music, Naruto sensually removed his bandanna (luckily for him the light was not sharp enough to show off his pointy-ears) and then gently tugged out his darkly-red band from his hair…. Ever so provocative, he swung his free locks – sprawling them all over his slim-body while gracefully turning his back to the mesmerized-man and showing of his ass whilst swinging it…

…Slowly he brought his both hands up – sliding them from his slowly moving hips and up his body till he buried then in his golden locks…

…Doing one roughly irritating turn-on of a turn, Naruto faced the man back, letting him see him sliding his hands back down his chest till he came to the line of his pants and buried his two thumbs under the waist-high.

Shifting and lightly fidgeting, Deidara watched unblinkingly as the young-blond advanced towards him, swinging his hips along with the beat and crossing his legs with each swing of a hip.

Reaching him closer, Naruto began to circle the leering man under the rhythm. While undoing his sash on the way, he finished the circle by reaching the said man's right-side. And almost startling the hell out of Deidara, he suddenly brought his right-leg up and with a turn straddled him and set on his lap.

Deidara's breath almost jumped out as the blond experimentally ground his hips and leaned over to him till their noses touched. Suddenly he felt a tight grip around his arms and chest, looking dazedly down, he saw the boy tug a knot on his chest from a sash – effectively tying him to the chair and slightly kicking the air out of his lungs from a little bit too powerful tug of a knot.

Sliding off of him, Naruto smirked as he danced himself back to the platform's other end under the beat.

Preoccupied by staring at the younger-blond, Deidara hadn't noticed him reaching under his pants, when he was on his lap, and stealing a kunai wrapped around the left-shin, which the smirking blond then brought up to his face to show him…

'_Wh-what a?! When did?! How could… me… a ninja…! That… that seductively sexy little thief,'_ debated shocked Deidara once he understood that the boy had just robbed him a while ago.

Delighted on making the man slight irritated, Naruto gave a devilish grin and with almost an invisible move he threw the kunai up – hitting one of the water pipes high above. The pipe cracked and suddenly the water splashed out. Effective drops started hitting the dance-floor, making it look as if raining…

…The process only made the whole show more provokingly erotic.

Just then the rhythm fastened as did the music…. Never breaking the rhythm, Naruto started to move like a dangerously aggressive creature – splashing the water under his feet, he swung his wet hair along the tune while doing sharp exotic movements, 'unintentionally' melting the eyes of all spectators with its beauty…

…From side to side he danced like a fire – sharp and very dangerous, yet beautiful and enchanting.

Amused, Gaara glanced to the side to see half of his wide-eyed coworkers already passed out along with the crowd while the other half was struggling to stand on their shaking feet from the up-turn of the show before them.

Smirking widely, he then glanced at two friends of the eldest-blond he all too well recognized.

Kisame had his mouth rolled down almost to the floor and eyes as wide as any shark could get; shock and improbability coloring his whole feature…

…Just besides him, the agape Tobi was clenching onto the blue-skinned man's shirt and subconsciously tugging it, looking as if he was very hardly trying to decide between saying something or nothing…!? Yet not once did he dare to look aside from the sight occurring in front of them.

As the music quieted down so did Naruto; the aggressivity slowed up…

…Turning back to his 'costumer', Naruto road his body with the slow pace of the quiet and echoing beat as he stimulatingly advanced towards the already melted man on the chair…

…While taking his time, Naruto teasingly crossed his arms over his stomach and reached for the hem of his shirt before slowly sliding it up.

People in the audience section had to restrain themselves from fainting out of the beauty of it all. Girls screamed and boys whistled – the air became terribly hot…

Deidara's eyes bugged out… _'Oh my God! It's even better than a BANG!' _he thought as his lower part between his legs began to scream for help from just a quick glimpse of that exquisite body.

Amused Gaara shook his head when he heard shocking gasps and a satisfying feeling of a tension coming from people who caught the sight of a deadly challenging tattoo revealing on Naruto's back before it disappeared under the long hair once the shirt was removed – showing only the protective tails holding his waist.

Letting the cloth fall down, Naruto crushed to the floor by the sound of the beating rhythm's signal and slowly began to crawl, sliding under the smoothly wet floor towards the trembling wide-eyed man – just like a predator nearing its prey…

_

* * *

_

"This is so boring," sighed Sasori as he took another sip of his 'sake' and glared at the two morons sitting in front of him – one money charging bastard and the other freakin' Jashin lover – playing cards.

Rolling his eyes at the two gambling idiots, Sasori then looked over his shoulder at the table next to them, where Deidara and Kisame should be complaining and glaring at each other, with Tobi joining just for the fun of it…, but none of that was to be found there.

"…!?… Hey, where's Deidara?" suddenly asked Sasori, looking around for anyone with blond head.

"Noises… noises! Will you shut up already!!? What a fuck is going on over there?!" abruptly yelled the 'Jashin-maniac', bringing his attention from both – Sasori and Kakuzu as he yelled at the afar gathered crowd of cheering-screaming people.

Narrowing his brows in curiosity, Sasori didn't manage to blink as both idiots were already heading to the crowd. Sighing he shrugged, taking his drink along, and walked after the two.

Finally, after breaking through the mustered group of people, Hidan and Kakuzu abruptly went wide-eyed and imperceptibly dropped their bottles of 'sake' to crash on the floor with Sasori choking nearly to death under his own sour-drink once he caught up to them and after what they all saw…

"OH My Fucking-…" Hidan started…

"…-Lords of Heaven Gates!" …with Kakuzu finishing just as shockingly; whilst Sasori tried to hit his lugs free from the burning acid-liquid in his throat.

_

* * *

_

Deidara's breathing became terribly uneven and hot to hold as the young-blond cruelly-slowly crawled towards him…

…He visibly jumped when the _devilish_ blond brought those sinful hands up on his knees and slowly slid them shamelessly forward.

Smirking, Naruto pressed against the man's thighs for the support and stood up, shooting his ass up and reaching close eyelevel with his _prey_.

Gaara had to roll his eyes as a bunch of idiotic-people couldn't hold back the sight of the boy's rear and fainted on the spot.

Swaying his hips with the rhythm, Naruto slowly slid his hands from the shaking man's legs and up to his deeply breathing chest till he reached his shoulders.

Sticking his tongue out, Naruto licked Deidara's chin before grasping the shuddering man's shoulders tighter and climbing on his lap: almost straddling him, yet still standing on and above – swaying the rhythm out of his body.

The wide-eyed agape Deidara had sweat all over himself. _'This is torture… Oh My God! Oh My God! Wasn't I supposed to be the seducer here, hm?!' _He then let out a whimpering sound as the blond began to lower himself ever so slowly and so teasingly that Deidara thought he's gonna die.

Setting down onto the man's lap, Naruto smirked and did a bit too harsh grind with his hip upwards, causing the man to groan.

Deidara let out a gasp of warm breath… _'Oh Lord!'_

The music abruptly fastened and so did the maniac-of-an-innocent-boy, who began grinding the tied up man's hardened…'friend' against himself under the fast rhythmical movements of the beat.

Poor Deidara's breath was literally jumping; it became very-very hard to breathe as the young-blond abruptly let his left-hand hang loosely by his side with the other still gripping his left-shoulder and effectively started ridding him while arching and throwing his head back….

All the others along with the three still shocked newcomers stared with bleeding noses and almost bleeding eyes as the angelic creature performed a 'mating-example' on the blown-away Deidara.

Swinging upwards… downwards…, doing merciless circles around and about the breathless, madly-blushing Deidara…, …faster with more pressure…, all was soon nearing its end…

…When finally – with one harsh move Naruto kicked the man _dry_… just when the music echoed its rough end… … …

Everything went very quiet. Music faded off…, the drops of water ceased…, and no one dared to let out a breath….

"Am… 'm I… a-alive…?" thought panting Deidara, trying hard to catch some air while foggily staring at a wet mimic of the blond-boy still on his lap.

Smirking, Naruto, being Naruto, wasn't satisfied just yet. Sliding his hands up the blond-man's neck and bringing them up to his face, Naruto gently examined every facial feature: chin-line, cheeks, eye-bones, eyebrows, mouth…

…While all wet Deidara did was just sit there speechless, breathless and unable to take his eyes from now much more clearly seen wet _angel_ on his lap.

Slowly Naruto trailed his right-hand's thumb over the lower-lip of his _prey's_ agape mouth and experimentally pushed it inside to tickle the firm teeth.

Trying to sigh his uneven breath out, Deidara blinked when he felt that naughty-finger leave his agape-mouth and a sudden hand at the back of his head grab a fistful of his hair.

In a blink of an eye, Naruto leaned over and kissed Deidara fully on the lips.

Deidara's eyes widened as the blond-boy suddenly crushed his lips against his own…. The elder-blond turned tomato-red.

The lights finally faded from erotic-red to bright-white…. Everyone started screaming, cheering and whistling in the background at the last 'touch' of that exotic performance they were all witnessing….

After a couple of seconds Naruto let the other blond's lips go and grinned at the practically visible shocked expression… Grinning even wider, Naruto brought his two fingers under the man's chin and closed his widely opened mouth with a 'click' of the teeth.

Standing then up while keeping his face nose-to-nose length with the wide-eyed man till the very last moment, Naruto finally turned and waltzed away.

Coming forward from the cheering crowd, Gaara outstretched an offering hand for Naruto that he gladly took, just for the tease and a heck of it, and helped him off of the platform… surely not before glancing one last time at the still speechless and far-far away from earth Deidara, and shooting him a glinting smirk.

"Did you have your fun?" asked amused _panda_, walking by the blind-boy's side after waving the other coworkers off.

"Oh yeah! There's nothing more _stimulating_ than dancing on one of the murderess criminal's laps," grinned the happy blond.

"Technically I might say that you raped him, Naruto," remarked amused red-head.

"Yea…, that would be one of the ways to have a good start in meeting a bunch of blood-thirsty S-class maniacs!" laughed the blond, enjoying himself.

Shaking off the weirdness of his 'brother's' being, Gaara encircled his arm around the slightly shivering wet blond's back to keep him from catching a cold. "Come on…" he urged, "…We better get you home before you turn yourself into a bacteria."

"Well aren't you a _darling_, brother!" sarcastically huffed the blond for being called a 'virus' and sneezed.

"We've got only four hours of sleep till our departure. And after all this I would like to see you waking up at all!" lectured the red-head, ignoring the mumbling blond and guiding them both to the exit.

"My-my, Deidara… I guess you were right!" smirking and clapping with the rest of the audience, still quite amazed Kisame walked over to his sitting blond-friend and crunched down till his level, keeping eyes on the two retreating boys' backs. "You actually don't even have to leave your seat to make people do what you want." congratulated pleased _shark_ the still non-moving, tied up, madly-blushing blond who was looking into the same far direction in which the younger one just disappeared to.

"Hmmm – I just wonder how long it will take you to leave this seat right here?! …For you seem to be kind of …Oh, I don't know… _melted_ against it!?" Kisame laughed as he then stood and whistled along with still clapping men and women for the exotic entertainment.

"WHAT A HELL/FUCK/DEVIL WAS THAT?!" abruptly yelled Sasori, Hidan and Kakuzu as they advanced the two while stepping over the fainted Tobi on the floor….

_

* * *

_

Early in the morning…

"Get up, Naruto! We got to go! The ship is leaving in twenty minutes," yelled Gaara for the fifth-time at the curled-up sleeping form on the bed.

"Mmm… bite me!" growled the 'morning' person under the blankets.

Getting twitch in an eye, Gaara gritted his teeth before coming to the other side of the bed and pulling it up, effectively making Naruto roll off of it.

"Uuf… why you bastard!" roared the sheepish-blond and grabbed a pillow to hit the red-head but quickly fell asleep on it instead.

Exhaling in annoyance, Gaara grabbed the blond's ankle and pulled his non-responding form to the shower.

Sliding the sleeping form into the cabin and stepping out, Gaara closed the covers of the shower and turned on the blue-handle (cold)…

"AAAAAAAHHHhhhhh…" was Naruto's 'vehement' reply.

_

* * *

_

On the ship…

Naruto slept through the whole trip to their next destination since he did not get much of a sleep last night and it took quite a long time to get to the Tea country for some reason; however he was way too tired to even give it a care.

Finally stirring awake, Naruto fully woke up under the sound of some men shouting about things he only could give a damn about.

Groaning, Naruto rolled off of the cab's bed, got dressed and searched his way up.

Coming to the deck, Naruto instantly could tell it was morning as the heated beams of the sun hit his face and a freshening daily wind of the sea ran through his free, undid hair.

"Land'oh!" a sailor suddenly yelled, signaling everyone their approach.

Leaning against the railings of the ship, Naruto inhaled the air and suddenly froze at the moment, _'Wait! I know this place…' _Debating with himself a couple of seconds, the blond's mind suddenly clicked on something very disturbing,_ 'Hold up!'_ narrowing his eyebrows, Naruto was about to wonder upon his suspicion but a sudden cheery voice from one of the builder-guys shouted his terrifying confirmation instead…

"Welcome to Fire country, people! And only five more hours till we reach Konohagakure!"

'_What? Fire count-…?! Wait! KOHOHAGAKURE?! WHAT A-…?!…!?…!!…'_

'_Ohhh…Gaara! You are sooo dead!!'_

_

* * *

_

Somewhere in one of the ship's cabins…

"I can't believe you! I fucking can't believe you!!" yelled the fuming blond-boy after the process of almost killing his best-friend.

'_That was pretty much what I expected,' _thought exhausted red-head who just received a hell of a beating from his 'brother', and it would still continue if it weren't for the sand he was currently holding against the struggling blond.

"Ju-just listen, Naruto…" panted the sweaty red-head, "I am well aware that you do not wish to be here…"

"Oh really?! Who ever gave you such an _intelligent_ thought, hmm?" sarcastically grinned Naruto before fuming again, "…because you know what?! YOU'RE FUCKING RIGHT!!"

Ignoring the shouts, Gaara tried to catch his breath, "I-it was a good opportunity for us t-to cross the Sea and gain more money…. And apart from you…, I actually _want_ to see things going around our home."

Hearing that, the blond's selfishness was pierced and momentarily died out as he silenced himself.

"Look… I'm not asking you to talk to _him_ or to anyone else if that is killing you so much. But while we'll be there, I _will_ ask you to keep your emotions at bay! Can you do that for me?" absorbing the blond, carefully pleaded the red-head.

Narrowing his brows, Naruto lost himself in thoughts, mindless to the sand finally crawling away from his hands and feet.

_Naruto is a very strong person, however his emotions are the crack of it all… – the whole weakness locked up and stabbed in one particular scar… …_

"Naruto?!"

Sighing his rage out, Naruto licked his lips and let a little chuckle skip his throat, feeling the irritating irony of it all. _'This is all so stupid.'_

After a moment of pressuring silence, Naruto meekly nodding his head, "…yes…" he whispered.

_

* * *

_

"Is Naruto ok?" asked slightly worried Gennou as he, 'brothers' and one fourth of the workers sat on one of the carriages led by two horses. "He doesn't seem fairly happy with all this trip, and kind of… angry!?" he turned to the sitting red-head next to him who was looking at the afar sitting blond by the carriage's end drinking a glass of water and rhythmically swaying his legs over the edge.

"No worries!" assured Gaara, smiling, "He's just sulking because I did not tell him about it sooner. And I assure you – he's very happy…" Suddenly there was a sound of a glass breaking; everyone turned to Naruto who just broke his glass of water with one hand and looked like he had steam coming all over from his body.

'_Just say one more word you wise-panda! …One more and I'll skin you out of your coat!'_ inwardly threatened the blond, making Gaara swallow as he practically read his thoughts.

"Yeah! Well, aaaany-way…" started Gennou, trying to change the seemingly awkward subject while shockingly eyeing the blond-boy take an offered bottle of water from one of the coworkers to wash the blood off and a cloth which he calmly tied over his bloodied hand as if nothing happened. _'Those two were always weird anyway!'_

"…We are being offered a good welcoming hospitality from the Sandaime's apprentice – Minato Namikaze himsel-…" stopping for a moment, Gennou thought he just heard a low growl coming from somewhere at the mention of that name, but scratched it and happily continued, "He's currently receiving training schedules in becoming the next Hokage," proudly exclaimed the old-man as while Naruto dramatically rolled his eyes in his head, trying to black everything out by drinking some of the water from the bottle – hoping it will 'wash' his brain of stupid thoughts.

"…And in the mean time, he asked us to move in his mention and live with him for the time being!" finished the cheery old-man, making Naruto effectively choke under his water at the last statement.

"Really?!" smirking thought Gaara, glancing at his choking 'brother' from the corner of an eye. "That sounds tempt-…!" Gaara didn't get to finish teasing Naruto's limits as he was abruptly interrupted by a flying bottle to his face. Ducking from his 'brother's' sent _present_, Gaara sweat-dropped and he quickly added, "Then again…I think we'll pass."

"Well good! Since I already refused the offer." sheepishly laughed Gennou. "It would be too much to ask after all. Instead they are welcoming us to stay in village's special guest-houses."

"Oh joy…,"sarcastically cheered the fuming blond, bringing his knee up and leaning his left-elbow on it.

_

* * *

_

Five minutes from Konohagakure's gates…

"You ok?" quietly asked Gaara as he came by and sat besides the blind-boy at the edge of the carriage.

"If I were to see my nightmares fulfilling…would I seem okay to you?!" smiling a bit at his own joke asked Naruto.

"Guess not…" loudly thought the red-head but did not seem disappointed, for he could tell that very-very deep down Naruto was excited and happy to return to his home-village, but did not dare bring that out loud in front of the blond, so instead he smiled, looking forward as the trees they passed slowly got farther and farther away.

Sensing the smiling spirit by his side, Naruto knew what Gaara was thinking and chuckled a bit, before whispering to himself, "I'll deal with it…"

'…_I hope…!?'_

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_I'm sorry if this story might seem boring and takes a lot of time to read,_

_But you must understand that each chapter has its meaning which slowly resolves in later chapters…, otherwise it will all be very confusing later on._

_Anyway, anyone who still can endure my retardness, hope you like it so far and please review…_

* * *


	7. Chapter 7

* * *

'_**Chapter 7'**_

_

* * *

_

It was past noon once they got to the Leaf village. Naruto was leaning against his 'brother', deeply lost inside his thoughts, while Gaara stared at the sight of slightly ruined and damaged village – a couple of wrecked houses, stores and a cracked wall, which was being rebuilt by the villagers.

"What happened here?" loudly asked the red-head.

"The land of Fire is going through the…'slight difficulties' with the land of Lightning." answered Gennou's son, being the nearest one sitting by the two 'brothers'.

"Land issues?!" wondered the red-head eyeing Konoha's people slowly packing their stuff from the day's work and closing all the stores as the streets slowly quieted down for the night.

"Approximately… The peace treaty between them was broke by the start of Lightning country lords' dissatisfaction with the Fire's strong lands, which resulted them to war against each other. Life's irony, when all people have to suffer from a mere ruler's idiotic issue-problems." replied the young-man, finishing their conversation as the carriage stopped moving.

'_Ironic indeed!' _silently agreed the red-head. Tugging Naruto lightly to the side for him to wake up from his day's four most favorite chanting words repeating in his mind over and over again – _'I hate my life! I hate my life! I hate my life! I hate my life! …'_ –, Gaara jumped off of their ride and went to help the others with their cargo.

Groaning his thoughts away, Naruto raised his nose up to inhale the too familiar air of his 'home'…

'_Well that sure is funny! The smell in this world is no different from our real home… The fuck with these dimensions,' _snarling at everything he found worth snarling at, Naruto jumped off the carriage, stuffed his hands in both pockets and slowly began walking (or rather dragging himself) to his group, all the way preparing himself for the nearest _events_ to come…,

'_Okay…, I soo can do it…! I can do it! I can do it! I can do it! I can do it! I can't do it! I can't do it! I can't do it! I-…?! No…wait! That's not right?!_

_I _can_ do it…?! …can't I?!…_

…_no I can't… What?!…?!… Aaaarghh… DAMN IT ALL TO HELL!'_ mentally growled the fuming blond as his mind was going crazy and just did not wish to acknowledge the fact that is his _fucked-up-life_…

Glaring at the darkness, since there was nothing else to glare at, Naruto didn't pay much attention to where he was going till he bumped into Gaara's chest, almost falling if the red-head's hand wouldn't have shot out and grabbed his shirt's front to steady him and avoid the fall.

"Keep this up and you won't know what happened till you'll walk straight into your father's awaiting arms," quietly teased the red-head, making Naruto snarl at him and smack his hand away.

"You're the one to talk!" snarled the blond before turning around and heading to the opposite direction.

"Where are you going?" lazily asked Gaara, diving his own hands in the pockets and following him.

"To go and gather some poison-berries for that _lovely _Yondaime… and hope he will choke with them to death!" grumbled the blond loud enough for only his 'brother' to hear.

"Maybe you should go with poison-flowers… those things are better in concealing suspicion, considering some of them so alike to none-poison ones!?" shrugging, boringly proposed Gaara, just for the fun and a heck of it…

"Why Gaara…, I didn't know you cared!?" seemingly still pissed with all the deal, sarcastically exclaimed the blond keeping his pace.

"Naruto!" sighing, Gaara picked up a slightly faster track and grabbed the growling Naruto's elbow, stopping him.

Roaring with all the annoyance he could gather, Naruto wriggled himself free from Gaara's grasp, turned around and practically walked into his face; silently he hissed, "Why must I also go to the stupid Hokage-tower?! You told me that I wouldn't have to talk to _him_!"

"You won't! But you still have to be present in order for him to see you, so that he will know that you are a no threat!" calmly informed Gaara, tickling the blond's face with his warm breath.

"Oh, I will show him the threat I am alright!" quietly mumbled to himself the grinning blond, shaking his head with dark-amusement and taking a small step back for a more comforting distance…, before scowling and hissing at his 'brother' again, "I can't believe you are doing all this to me! First you tricked me into all this shit…, then you made me go against my whole will in coming here…, and now you wish for me to go and meet with that… that… Aaarghh! How can this be happening?! Meeting him is even worse than talking!" growled the fuming blond while clenching his hair and turning his back to the red-head; crossing his arms onto the chest, Naruto just stood there like a stubborn child.

Rolling the dark-green eyes, Gaara exhaled, "Urgh… how can it be worse? I thought you would be glad to…"

"Shut up!" the blond quickly cut him off, sharply turning around and grabbing a fistful of his shirt. "I'd rather die than come anywhere near the mirror image of my own blood! Let alone talk to him." he venomously spoke out about the man who seemingly ruined his whole life and whom Gaara understood as his father.

"Ok-ok!" calmly sighed the red-head as he brought his hands up and gently released his shirt from the _fox's _grip. "However it wasn't what I was trying to say-…"

…Narrowing their brows, both of them abruptly quieted down, as an unwelcome party suddenly ruined their conversation.

Glancing annoyingly to the side, Gaara eyed the source of their interruption. A bunch of tired Genin and a couple of Jounin came and started speaking to afar standing Gennou before taking their bags and equipment-tools along with them.

'_Probably to inspect the safety and then take them to the guest-houses…' _thought the red-head before he turned back to Naruto.

As the said bunch of Konoha ninjas bid their 'goodbyes' and walked off, irritated and defeated, Naruto put his hands back in both pockets and grouchy walked forwards to catch up with their awaiting group. "Alright Gaara! I'll go," whispered the blond as he stopped just by Gaara's side. "But…whatever you are still trying to say or change in me…, don't! It will never change what I have against my father! Even if he is not technically my real father; …they're just the same anyway, only dimensionally destined with a different path in their lives," the last part was said below the whisper as Naruto brushed pass the quietly standing red-head and walked off.

'_Hatred, huh?!' _Glancing up at the early-night's sky, Gaara suddenly uttered out-loud, "You're becoming just like the one you bond your life to save!"

…that stopped Naruto midway…

Turning around slowly, Gaara looked at his frozen 'brother's' back before walking over and stopping behind him, silently continuing, "Have you forgotten already? What you tried to erase your whole life from… never allow to overpower you?! What you swore to never become?!"

Narrowing his brows, Naruto slightly gritted his teeth.

"You are becoming just like Sasuke, Naru-…"

"Don't you dare compare me to hi-…" angrily hissed Naruto, but was still ignored,

"'Hatred', Naruto." voicing the word out, calmly, yet very painfully stabbing it into his 'brother's' heart in order for him to understand, stated the red-head, "That's what you are becoming now! That is that word you know as _feeling…_"

"No…, it is different…it can't be…" denied the blond, trying to doubt the fact that threatens to isolate him from his true being which always proved him to be stronger than anything else…even _hatred_…; however he knew it was true – and it hurt… so much did it hurt to know the truth…

"It is not." quietly said the red-head, as he walked around to stand in front of the lost blond, who had his head bowed down. "You are becoming blind by that one emotion… that feeling… You won't succeed anything with it… It will only break you Naruto…, as it once broke me, …if you will not pull yourself together…right now!"

Clenching the eyes and narrowing his brows even tighter to seal away the burning sensation behind them, Naruto took a lightly shaking breath… _'__Then how else can I deal with all this? How can I forget…? How can I simply forgive my father for all he did to me…?! How…__'_ "I can't… It hurts, Gaara! …It hurts so much…"

'_I know…' _smiling in sympathy, Gaara pulled his best-friend into a calming hug and rubbed his back behind the loose hair, slowly getting used to this…_thing_…people call _comfortation_ (for he's been doing it quite often lately…)

_Naruto might deny his abilities in holding his emotions off, but Gaara knew that it still won't stop him from trying… like it always did…_

"Is something wrong?" worriedly asked Gennou after he approached the 'brothers' and placed a questioning hand onto Gaara's shoulder.

Staring at the slowly setting sun above the Konoha's forest – visible through the gates – behind the blind-boy in his hands, Gaara didn't even skip a glance at the old-man as he lightly shook his head, "He's just tired."

Smiling at the touching-scene before him, Gennou tried to help and cheer the mood, "Come now! We better get going. I am pretty sure Naruto will feel much better once he'll meet with Sandaime and Namikaze-sama."

That last name made Naruto loudly cry in his mind, _'Why me?' _

Gaara inwardly chuckled as he felt his best-friend angrily dig his nails into his chest. _'So much for a cheery mood.'_

"We better get this over with! I'm pretty sure Naruto will feel better if the meeting will end as soon as it will start," said Gaara as he let Naruto go but kept his one hand circled around the blond's shoulder while following the others to the Tower.

_

* * *

_

"…the Lightning has currently retreated from the lands of Fire, though the possibilities of their next attack is still unknown," spoke a calm voice of a standing Anbu before the Hokage desk.

"I see…" tiredly sighed a handsome, tall (about 6,0 feet) man with wildly spread, yet presentably formed, spiky, shoulder-long blond hair and diamond blue eyes, standing with his back to the desk and eyeing the village bellow the window.

He was wearing dark-blue ninja baggy pants, long-sleeved black shirt with Leaf's headband hanging around his neck, ninja blue sandals, white bandages wrapped around the shanks and a white unbuttoned robe – covered in beautifully drawn red-flames at the hem – handing freely around his shoulders with rolled-up sleeves.

Blacking his thoughts, the said man then formed a smile and spoke out-loud, "So… Kakashi. What's new in your road of life?!" he turned around to face the young-man named Kakashi, who took his Anbu mask off.

The young-man looked no older than twenty-four; had grey hair – standing up right and a little bent to the left-side; a dark-blue mask was covering half of his face which held a vertical, iris red color battle-scar – right across his left _Sharingan_ eye that shone in blood-red opposite from his right purple eye.

He was wearing the usual Anbu garments – tight dark-blue fitting, sleeveless clothing (giving a chance to show off a tattoo of an official ANBU member, tattooed on his left-shoulder); white armor like vest attached by two shoulder straps; strapped katana on his back; long, dark-blue gloves – reaching his upper-arms – with long, white elbow guards wrapped around the forearms and two metal plates shielding the top of his hands; and a pair of tall, dark-blue ninja shoes wrapped around his legs – leaving the front of the shoe open with the back closed.

"It's fine, sensei! Been hearing from Obito today. He's sending his regards from the Sea lands. …And also something about how he can't wait to tell me about him fainting on the most 'spectacular event' he'd ever seen…!? Hm, I guess it has something to do with that blond friend of his. Maybe, he finally made Deidara snap while playing that Tobi character…and as of result got blown till the unconsciousness," shrugged Kakashi with a hint of amusement in his words.

Chuckling at the mental image, the elder looked at his old-student and smiled in a rather sad way. "After the incident with your eye he's became rather… strange!?"

"I know…" Kakashi gave a sad smile himself, "And I still don't know how to thank him enough for sacrificing the part of himself in order to save my vision!? He gave me my light back, sensei. I'm in life's debt to him." He exclaimed the last part in a low whisper as he respectfully closed his eyes and lightly bowed his head.

Smiling in sympathy, the blond came to stand in front of his old-student, who was about seven centimeters shorter compared to him, and put a comforting hand onto his head – lightly ruffling the hair. "Respect him for what he is and what he did…, he wouldn't ask for nothing more."

"I know sensei," the grey-haired man smiled up at the blond-man.

Seeing that the mood's been cheered enough, the elder-male then went back to the Hokage-desk and turned again to his old-student with seriousness, "Now then…, are there any other news regarding the village or anything in that matter?"

"No sir!" exclaimed the young-man in respectful gesture towards the elder, turning back to the matters at hand.

"Then it will be all. See that the rest of the Anbu squads head back to the base. Send a message regarding a meeting occurring in two days."

"Will be done!"

"Good! You may leave."

Nodding with the affirmative, Kakashi disappeared.

Sighing, the blond-male heavily plopped down onto the Hokage's chair. Stretching his limbs and folding his hands behind the back of his head, he got ready to give himself a well deserved sleep…

…That is until a dash of white blur suddenly rushed through his opened window and went crushing down behind the couch. "I'm not here!" somebody squeaked behind the couch.

Before he could wonder upon what just happened, one angry blond woman with two loose pig-tails forming her long hair came through the same window and glared around for any signs of that _white-blur_.

"Where is he?!" she hissed at the wide-eyed blond-man, who still staring at her then calmly pointed at the entrance door, making the bustywoman rush through them (almost breaking the door to shreds as she swung them open) and run down the hall, yelling, "GET BACK HERE JIRAIYA YOU DORK!"

Blinking in confusion, the blond-man's eye skipped a twitch or two, before turning his gaze from the (luckily still standing) door to glare at the spiky bush of white hair peeping out behind the couch.

"Is she gone?" whispered sweaty and exhausted long, spiky, white-haired man named Jiraiya with two red marks 'crying' from his eyes and down his cheeks. Shooting his eyes from the left to the right, the said man then heavily exhaled as he found no signs of his 'death'. "Pfeww… that was close! Ha-ha… I'm telling you, that woman is crazy for me!" he grinned rubbing the back of his neck.

Sighing, the blond-man leaned back in the chair and boringly greeted the intruder with a little hint of a tease, "Hello sensei! And what, if I may ask, do I own this pleasure in saving your ass and missing a free show of spectacular performances 'how to beat a pervert in two seconds time' – Tsunade's style?!"

"Well aren't you getting a bit too comfortable already… What's with the formality speech anyway?" offended frowned Jiraiya at his old-student lounging in the Hokage's chair. "How about showing a bit of an appreciation towards your lovely old-sensei for going through all the trouble in babysitting you all those years instead?!" he pouted standing up from behind his 'hiding-place' to dust his pants off, before taking a seat on the couch, crossing his arms and turning to his _protégé_ with deadness of seriousness in the eyes,

"Now then…, I think it's finally time for us to get to the chase. As you already know upon the considerations that it was I who led you to the fine success in becoming the next-Hokage, let me make things clear about your debt payment." that statement almost made the younger-male to fall off the chair…

"Payment?" the blond shoot up from his seat and slammed his both palms onto the desk for 'angry' support, glaring at his sensei, "What payment?!"

Jiraiya merely closed his eyes and elaborated, "You didn't actually think that all your training was all just a free-ride now did you?! Hmm…let's see now…" glancing then thoughtfully at the ceiling while rubbing his chin and ignoring the blond's shouts about being the walking wallet of money for his stupid 'research', the elder one spoke out his demandsas if asking for a glass of water, "Alright then…, I think that a few months of free mixed-hot-spring bathing and a couple of women to go along will do just fine, thank you!"

Staring wide-eyed at his dreamingly drooling and giggling sensei, the blond's vein then popped out. "JIRAIYA, YOU GOAT! WHO EVER GAVE YOU THE IDEA OF THAT EVER HAPPENING?!" he roared at his _perverted _sensei.

"No respect at all," pouted Jiraiya, rubbing his hurting ears from his same old student's well known outburst. "Fine! Just one girl then."

The blond was about to jump over the desk and strangle the grinning go-happy-fool who was lost back in his fantasies again, but stopped when an Anbu suddenly appeared before him…

"Sir, I apologize for my interruption! But the assigned group of traveled-workers has just arrived and awaits you." the seemingly young voice of a long, ebony-haired – fixed in a low pony-tail – man spoke, kneeling before the desk.

"Ah, yes! I've been expecting them," the blond-man smiled at the well known Anbu and jumped from the desk before thanking him and giving an order to escort the said group inside the Tower.

Once the Anbu disappeared, the blond turned back his serious expression on and sternly, yet still a bit playfully, spoke to the other male in the room, "Alright sensei. Get out! I have some matters to attend to right now."

"You seriously need to get laid, you know that?!" after a long pause Jiraiya abruptly uttered, looking at his student in thought.

"WHAT?!" frantically yelled the slightly blushing blond.

"…And I have just the perfect thing for it!" grinning, Jiraiya fished a book out of his jacket. "My latest edition of-…"

"GET THAT CORRUPTED BOOK AWAY FROM ME!!" fumed the blond-man to the offended looking, pouting white-haired one…,

"Corrupted? How dare you!? Apparently you haven't even noticed that this book is the very heart of life's central existence, you brat!!"

"Existence?! What are you blabbering about you old-perve-…" however before the 'coloring' words could be exchanged any further, there was a knock on the door.

Glaring at his teacher, who was mumbling about him being a young and beautiful _pervert_ instead of an old before disappearing in a puff of smoke, the blond sighed and yelled out, "Enter!"

The same pony-tailed Anbu as from before opened the door and entered with a bunch of people following him. Finally, after the last of the men were all gathered in Hokage's office, two more Anbu stepped inside and closed the door behind them, staying by it and quietly eyeing the gathered group for any suspicion – just in case.

"Sir, this is Gennou-san and his traveling companions," said the first Anbu standing by Hokage's desk and introduced him to the kind old-man who stepped out-front.

Nodding, the blond-man stood up and politely greeted, "Hello! And welcome to Konohagakure!"

Death was trying to free itself from a certain blond-teen's eyes the minute he heard the man speak, and for once he was actually thankful for the blindfold that kept all those emotions hidden…. Although he was never destant to meet nor talk to the man face to face, still… somehow he knew that it was _him_… - …_his father…_

Apart from the blond, a certain red-head however couldn't help but stare at the man in front of them. He was nearly the exact replica of his 'brother' Naruto, save some elder details.

As well as Naruto, Gaara felt grateful for his 'brother's' blindfold, which practically covered one fourth of his face – the actually main part of it that mirrored the man's exact features… However, at that same time he couldn't help but sigh in regret…, for he really wished he could behold that expression in his best-friend's eyes to actually _see _his exact image just mere feet away from them.

'_Would Naruto still be willing to kill this man? He doesn't even look like he could harm a fly.'_ the red-head frowned, because he couldn't believe that this man, the legend, was considerate to be the greatest and strongest of shinobi in their world. However he was not the one to doubt the person by his/hers appearance… – that was one of the rules he learned from a certain sly _fox_ one day….

Standing up from the Hokage's desk, the blond-man walked around it and approached Gennou while talking, "Sandaime-Hokage has currently departed from the village in order to withstand a meeting in Sunagakure. And therefore I am replacing all his duties till the time he returns! Hi, my name is Minato Namikaze!" pleased with his speech, grinned the blond-man named Minato as he then outstretched his hand in order for Gennou (the head of the whole group) to take it.

Naruto's mind slightly softened along with his inner tension at the name of the _Third_. _'He's alive,'_ inwardly smiled the young-blond, but as soon as that smile appeared it was gone, when a knowing scent of a certain someone caught his attention, _'So…he is here as well!?'_

"It has been so long… I am honored, Namikaze-sama!" a bit excited Gennou shook his hand with Minato's and respectfully bowed with a tilt of his head along with everyone else, save one… – Naruto.

'_Tch… you wish!' _mentally snarled the young-blond.

Curiously skipping a glance at Naruto, who stood next to him and a little out-front, Gaara wondered if he hadn't gone stiff from that rock position of his. Naruto just stood there – like a statue – unmoved and deep in thought, which bothered Gaara to no end. _'One wrong move and he'll lose his whole composure,'_ thought the red-head. Although Naruto showed no expression, Gaara knew that the boy was practically destroying himself inside for being prohibited from his tearing will…

…and the visible evidence were very slowly emerging by the said blond-boy's attitude, as Naruto's left-hand slowly stared to clench his right-hand's wrist folded behind his back – making an angry red-mark and lines of the digging nails.

Luckily for 'brothers', other workers stood around them and blocked the as yet visible aggressiveness of Naruto's from the unwanted spectators (meaning – Anbu).

However, there was still one problem… _'Byakugan and Sharingan are here.' _silently cursed Gaara, thinking about those all knowing eyes…, and not only that but… _'Of all the people it just happened to be _him_… the Uchiha prodigy…' _mentally frowned the red-head, knowing fully well that that certain _prodigy _might find out too much if he as much as skips a wrong look._ 'This is such a pain! Naruto must be in "heaven",' _restraining himself from rubbing his temples, Gaara now understood why Naruto became so stiff all of a sudden.

"Please-please, there is no need to be so formal, Gennou! You're making me feel sort of old," laughed Namikaze before he started to have a random conversation with the old man Gennou – his long known and trusting friend, whom he hadn't seen for more than two years now. One might even say that Gennou's like an uncle to Minato.

In the mean time, Gaara was worriedly watching Naruto start to slightly shake and take uneven breaths. _'This ain't well,' _frowning, Gaara quickly looked around himself and smirked as he sensed no hidden eyes of the Anbu on him or Naruto. _'Good! They're not looking.'_ 'seeing' that the Anbu are temporary distracted while examining the other workers for any suspicion, gave him a chance to…

…Slowly taking a small step to stand a bit in front of Naruto, Gaara a bit too harshly though stepped onto the poor blond's foot, making Naruto jump and groan in his throat but momentarily relax at the warning gesture, mindlessly not knowing that he's been slowly loosing himself and releasing his emotions of disturbing anger – which would result him into a massive killer intent and the release of abnormal chakra which was now under a deep suppression…

…But still…, the result of a sudden movement and a groan from the young-blond earned them the sharp eyes of all Anbu.

The moment those piercing Anbu eyes landed on them, both kept their cool, particularly Naruto. Being a well trained Anbu themselves, they already knew the procedures of examinations in such cases as e.g. – _infiltration_. They will be outlook throughout their capability levels.

Naruto and Gaara could already feel the presented eyes of the same _Byakugan _and_ Sharingan_ practically trying to dig their souls out with the intent stares – looking for any signs of dangerous chakra level or any other intentions that would leave to unwanted suspicion…

…Furthermore – chakra level, composure and well acting experiences were not the only thing both 'brothers' needed to keep at bay for such occasions… – Being a special case, both of them were forced to not only conceal practically all of their abnormal chakra away but to change the exact color of it as well, which was a perfect betrayal of their existence whether it was seen through _Byakugan_, _Sharingan _or any other bloodline limits as such…, because no-one else possessed such unorthodox colored-chakra as they did…

…So before they entered the Leaf village (actually that was done already before the 'infiltration' of Sea lands) the two 'brothers' sealed their strength to submit to the low-low Chunin level. And along with it came the change of chakra's color – that meaning back to the blue color. Nevertheless, that was much harder done than they thought. It could only take half of the day to keep the color in check till the large amount of sealed chakra starts pouring out in order to withstand the color under the needed amount… which could lead to the exposure of their hidden powers.

Finally after some time now, the piercing eyes left them at peace as the Anbu finished their inspection.

Just then, the elder-blond finished his delightful conversation with Gennou and took two small steps back in order to rove his eyes through a bunch of gathered workers.

"So… I take it that this is your group of highest class?!" questioned smiling Minato.

"That's right! These men are capable workers and fine gentlemen. …Especially these two!" proudly exclaimed Gennou, pulling two certain (before they could even bite), startled and inwardly growling and roaring teens out-front to stand beside him.

Naruto thought he was going to die when Gennou grabbed his hand and pulled him closer to his dimensional father.

'_Those two longhairs are boys?! They look like girls!' _Skipping a quick glance at the two, Minato wondered if the…_boys_…were even qualified for such a prestige job in such a young age – for all he could tell they looked no older than thirteen, and also weak-looking… and not to mention the boy with no sight. _'Is he even able to feel where he's going?'_

Rising his both brows at Gennou in interest, Minato then took a moment longer to carefully eye the two shortest 'men' in this room…

Both looked rather similar – in height (about 5,4 feet tall); age; weird hair color, which greatly differentiated them from the rest; same facial features; slender-bodies and not to mention the same choice of clothing – black bandannas, dark middle-shin-length loose pants with black sandals and white sashes reaching over the hip.

The only difference between the two were – skin-color, markings on their faces (whiskers and tattoo), two different shirts reaching the waist-belt: white for the red-head and orange for the blond, and a blindfold on the blond's eyes, which made Minato and his personal Anbu fairly curious as if his eyes were the same as the red-head's.

Smiling then kindly to them both, Minato said, "I always knew that Gennou's sharp eye for talent was a mystery for all people, as it is still for me. And I just cannot wait to test it."

Bending a little bit down, to be face to face level with the two teens, whom Gennou lightly guided to stand now in front of him – holding them both by their shoulders, Minato kindly asked, "Please… tell me your names."

Gaara momentarily answer before his 'brother' decides to just simply jump and kill the poor man if he as much as looks at him again. "The name's Gaara… and this here is my brother – Naruto." He tried to sound as humanoid as he could be… – for being a cold-blooded killer almost his entire life, Gaara still couldn't find the needed softness in his voice in order to withstand a descent conversation with strangers, let alone people he knew who might soon go into the black-list (in Naruto's opinion)…

…and so much as for being the one talking and acting instead of the practically never shutting record by his side, just felt weird and awkward for him.

In the mean time, Minato was brought slightly aback… _'Naruto?' _this name seemed so close yet so distant. Looking at the blind-boy, Minato slightly narrowed his eyebrows… _'Why do I have such a strange feeling all of a sudden?!'_

Shaking his mind quickly away, Minato then wondered, "Do they refer to you as your nicknames?"

"No. We simply don't have last-names," again, it was the red-head who spoke.

"Interesting." Frowning in his mind, Minato straighten himself up whilst something else made him think over… – the young-blond's lack of response.

'_Why is he so quiet?'_

However, Minato dared not question the subject – thinking that maybe the boy is mute as well as he is blind, and questioning upon the boy's weakness might be a no good way of a friendly acquaintance.

Scratching then all his rushing thoughts as of no great importance, Minato turned to the group, "Alright, I can see that you are all very tired and wish to take a well needed rest. So we'll deal with the paperwork in tomorrow's morning then. I already asked all of your stuff to be transported to the place you'll be staying at. And before that we did a little examination on the cargo. I hope it's not too offending?!"

"No-no! It is fine! With the war going on around here it's perfectly understandable," chuckled Gennou, taking off his glasses to clean them. Once he put them on, he arched his brow as he saw Minato curiously look at the quiet blond teen.

'_Hmm, he looks fairly tense… …and very…familiar…?!…' _mussed Namikaze.

Gaara frowned at that, not liking one bit the way the elder-blond was looking at his maybe soon-to-be 'death'…

'_I wish I could see his eyes…' _inwardly thought Minato.

Curiosity suddenly got the better of him… and before he knew what he was doing, Minato reached out for the boy's blindfold…

…But before he could as much as come near to it, his wrist was almost invisibly grabbed by a tan-hand, so similar to his own.

The action resulted a slight panic from the Anbu guards, one of them in particular who was already behind the younger-blond's back with an unleashed kunai in his hand. He brought it up to the boy's thin neck…, however what overtook everyone the most was when the boy quickly caught the dashing sharp blade in his right-hand and held it there – in front and away from his neck – showing off no pain or any visibly hurting expression as he simply let the blood from his gripping hand slide along the shiny kunai's length.

The workers worriedly waited for the Namikaze-sama to start panicking about the weirdness of the blond that they already were _kind of_ familiar with. It wasn't a surprise for them that the young-blond wasn't afraid of pain or his own blood, and was gifted with animalistic reactions.

Gaara also stared at the scenery with widened eyes, however from a different perspective, _'Does that man has a death-wish or something?!' _He waited patiently for Naruto's next reaction or maybe a simple kick to the face of his _mirror_…?!

Minato and the Anbu were simply and truly amazed at the blond's calm… _'It's not every day you see a boy with such spunk.'_

All of their thoughts suddenly perished in the air of their minds as the blind-boy finally spoke… "I apologize if I might be too rude, but don't you think that asking first is the most obvious way in expressing your curiosity…, _Yondaime_?!" practically forcing out the words, as calmly as he could, stated Naruto, not even feeling himself putting more pressure on his 'father's' wrist.

Minato inwardly winced but otherwise showed a blank face, while the Anbu were aloud glaring death at the short-boy who dares question their leader's actions.

Startled and shocked, Gennou finally woke up from his daze and practically rushed in to meaningless explanations, "Please forgive me, Minato, but don't question the boy upon his eyes. He is very sensitive abo-…"

"No-no… it's alright, my friend," slightly smiling, intrigued, Minato stared at the blind-boy with a sudden and deep interest. "It was merely a small test. By the look of the boy, I just needed to see whether he's got sense. And apparently more than expected," the last sentence went out in a whisper to himself.

Gaara slightly frowned, but dared not do anything for their own safety and sake, however inside he was rather angered at the eldest blond's impropriate actions, whereas Naruto was boiling and trying very-very hard not to throw his 'father' out of the window, not bothering to open it first.

Not only did he just morally thought and spoke of Gaara and him as mere children…, but also insulted him for being blind and incapable…

Glaring in his head at the _junior-_Hokage, Naruto calmly released the tan-hand along with the gripping kunai that the Anbu then lowered down by Minato's sign, and abruptly turned his back, silently brushing past the others and walking out of the room, showing off peace and solitude in his steps. Not feeling by the minute that he will tolerate staying here any longer.

Gaara waited there to be at least a loud shut of the doors but it was very calm, which worried the red-head even more than if there would have been a loud jam.

The Anbu-guards were ready to halt the teen and keep him in place, but a warning look from the Namikaze told them to let the boy do as he pleases. He trusted Gennou with his men.

The door calmly closed and Minato turned away from the worried, shocked and very quiet group to look at the sky through the window. Sighing he lowered his gaze and crossed his arms,

'_What a Hell?! A small test? Nice excuse idiot! What a Heck was I thinking?!' _he might not show it but inside he was practically ripping his hair out, _'Have I completely lost my mind? Who in their rightful mind would even think of doing such a thing? Poor me… Fuck! Poor _kid_, I insulted him!'_

Still…there was something about this boy that was subconsciously ripping his heart out at the ache to find out more about him, it was somehow forcing himself to get as close to the teen as he possibly could, but a small part of his mind simply barred it.

'_Why does that boy makes me feel so confused?!'_

"I apologize for my brother's antics, Namikaze-sama!" suddenly an emotionless voice cut off his thoughts and made him look up at the window which showed a blurry visible reflection of the group behind him – particularly the red-head who brought his attention. "He and I had quite a run-through on our way across the lands…and it is of no surprise for people taking curiosity and making fun of his loss and obvious incapability. That fairly upsets him. But in the end he always proves people wrong, which only results them of becoming fools on their own."

'_That was rather offending…' _thought the twitching workers, already knowing the red-head's lack of social language, and yet fearing the response of Namikaze-sama about it.

Meanwhile Minato just stood impulsive, listening to everything the red-head was saying. However he couldn't help but wish to punch the boy for being practically called a _fool_ in front of so many people. Yet he still dared not bring his voice or fist, or ready to jump and suffocate the teen Anbu out…, 'cause what he said about the young-blond was embarrassing enough already.

"My brother craves for respect and for people to believe in him. And I do not judge you of what you did, seeing that it came from a mere curiosity and ache to know…"

Turning a bit to the left to look over his shoulder, Minato locked his eyes with deep-green that held a tiny sign of understanding in them… before it turned into a deep darkness of no emotions,

"However, it was the most inappropriate behavior I have ever seen in my life." and it was not the behavior of the young-blond the red-head was whispering out.

That was a low blow for the great Namikaze, as those depths in mystical eyes warning glittered at him, however he still did not lose his cool – showing off the same emotionless face and sizing him up.

'_This day is turning into one heck of disastrous drum-up … Friendly acquaintance my foot!'_ Gennou sweat-dropped.

'_OH-MY-GOD!!' _Every traveled worker was ready to die, going through their wills in the heads and mumbling last wishes of world's peace as the great soon-to-be Yondaime received a verbal punch across his face from their _'Diamond of fine words'_…

Anbu were glaring daggers at the red-head but did not unleash them for Minato simply warned them not to do anything.

"Please excuse me," the red-head bowed and went to exit the room in order to search for a surely-distressed _fox_.

As the door closed for the second time, Minato inhaled deeply before turning to the rest of confused, wide-eyed and ready to go and dig-their-own-graves group of workers. Looking then towards his two Anbu by the door, he asked them to escort the group to the guest-houses and go and find the two teens to get them there as well.

Silently sighing in relieve and bursting into tears of happiness for getting to live another day, everyone bid their quiet 'goodbyes' and bowed before exiting the room, leaving one distressed _junior-_Hokage and one slightly amused old-man alone inside the office.

_

* * *

_

'_The nerve of that man!'_

Shaking in deep anger, Naruto felt his mentality slowly breaking. Walking down the Tower's hallway, Naruto was ready to unleash his murderous intent but kept on suppressing it, knowing fully well that it will be sensed in seconds.

Shakily exhaling, Naruto breathed in to calm his nerves…, however all that fell in vain when the memories persistently jumped back in his mind…

'_Do I even have any sense, huh?!'_

Growling low in his throat, he couldn't hold back the temptation anymore and raised his fist to at least blow the hole into the wall… or better yet kill the whole damned wall.

'_Here! I will show you my _sense_…'_

…however before he could make his satisfaction complete, his wrist was suddenly grabbed by a firm hand's grip, crushing his desire upon _decorating _the stoned-wall.

"You done?" asked the voice of his 'brother'.

Roughly pulling his hand from the grip, Naruto only roared while shoving his hands in his pockets and proceeding to walk forward with amused bastard of a 'brother', who even dares laugh at his emotional-precariousness, following him.

"One more day with that bastard and I'll jump of the lake!" fumed the young-blond.

Rolling his eyes, Gaara smirked, silently enjoying himself. "Will you give it a break?!"

"This is all your fault anyway, Gaara! You knew something like this would happen. So deal with it now!" accusingly growled the blond.

Sighing at the fact, the red-head shut his mouth just when one of the Anbu suddenly appeared before them and under the orders escorted them to their new-homes.

_

* * *

_

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Minato leaned against the Hokage-desk and calmly said, "That was not how I expected this day to go."

"You still have to learn," smiled Gennou.

Sighing, Minato glanced at his sinful hands and said, "I'm sorry, Gennou, for my rude behavior towards the young lad! …To tell you the truth, he makes me so very confused and intrigued at the same time that the fact to be so utterly consumed by that mystical darkness of his… I… I don't know, it just made me do what I did without thinking." Looking up from his hands, he met a sad smile placed upon the old-man's eyes, showing the understanding.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Minato! The two brothers were just as weird and secretive to me when I first met them. True enigmas…, that begged to be resolved."

"Did you?" curiously asked Minato.

"Hmm…," smiling at that, Gennou closed his eyes. "No…, I didn't resolve them. But that just makes them all the more special."

"Who are they? Where are they from?" questioned Minato.

"That my boy, you will need to find out on your own! But till then, know that I take full responsibility for all their actions," smiled Gennou.

"How do you know that you can trust them?! Do you even know them?" suspiciously asked the blond-man, crossing his arms.

"Minato…, sometimes you don't have to know a person to trust 'im." chuckled the old-man.

Closing his eyes, Minato spaced out a little before finally saying, "Please bring the two boys tomorrow after the meeting. I wish to…talk to them…alone."

Gennou raised an eyebrow at that.

_

* * *

_

After being escorted to their new homes under the not-so-friendly escort, Naruto went straight to what he supposedly smelled like kitchen, while Gaara and the others went to check the house better.

Sliding his hand above the closed shelves hanging on the rather large kitchen's right-wall, Naruto stopped at the last one and opened it to be hit with a welcoming smell of self-made bag of ramen…, though it was nothing compared to the original Ichiraku ramen but till tomorrow it'll just have to do (if the ramen stands are in this dimension that is!?)….

Taking the packet he started opening it…only to find out that it won't budge.

'_Oh, come on!!' _fumed Naruto and started ripping it with his teeth.

Distant voices could be heard closing in, signaling him that the rest of the workers were done with the examination of the house and headed towards the kitchen.

"Man, Naruto… you sure did a nice number in the Hokage office," came an amused voice of Gennou's son who entered the kitchen followed close by other lightly chuckling coworkers, who half of them set at the long table while the other half simply decided to stretch their legs and stay leaning by the kitchen's shelves or search for something interesting to eat.

"Basically he's not the Hokage yet, so there's no need to be so frightened about it." emotionlessly stated Gaara, entering the kitchen and going towards Naruto to take away the poor packet of home-made ramen which had to suffer Naruto's ripping teeth that simply couldn't get it open.

"That may be, but you two could have been a bit more sympathetic, not rush out of the room so quickly."

"Whatever…," boringly mumbled Gaara, opening Naruto's ramen packet and putting it into the boiling water along with another one for himself.

"Sorry, but I don't take it lightly to the people who can't mind their own space," grouchy said Naruto, crossing his arms and leaning next to the boiling pot Gaara was messing with. "And besides, have you any idea how utterly disturbing it was to have that guy stare at you almost none stop?!"

"That's because he is interested in you," entered Gennou with smiling features, signaling the presence of his return.

"'Hmph'," said Naruto. "Doesn't change the fact that he could have been more considerate with his words!"

Nodding in understanding, Gennou then smiled wider, "And that's why he wishes to talk to you tomorrow after our meeting." making the other coworker tease the boy by voicing out 'Oooh… busted!!'

"Wh-whhat?! NO WAY!" spluttered Naruto.

"Don't worry! Gaara will be joining you too," he said in an unusually cheery mood.

"Huh?!" was Gaara's smart reply as he looked at Gennou in the middle of tasting the ramen.

_

* * *

_

After a quick bite of supper and mostly an entire time of spacing out, Naruto and Gaara finally stood up, waving a 'goodnight' to everyone before heading upstairs to their room that they both decided to share. They could have had separate rooms…but chose one for two which was the biggest.

There were three two-store-high guesthouses for all workers to share. The first floor held: kitchen, two connected living rooms and a bathroom; but on the second floor were mostly only bedrooms (six to be exact) and two bathrooms. The same went to the other houses – they all were similar.

Naruto and Gaara were put with Gennou, his son and two of his friends into one house, while the rest of coworkers shared the other two. But once they decide to gather up – Gennou's house would be their main-point.

Dragging themselves up the stairs father away from the still going voices and laughs, Gaara finally spoke out, "Well… we sure did a fine job in keeping our cover sealed."

"I couldn't have asked for better…" mumbled Naruto. "I want to leave this place…now!!" he said with a quiet yet stern hiss of a voice.

"No…, if we will leave right now it will only deepen their suspicion," said the red-head, lightly clenching the bridge of his nose and making Naruto angry…

"Have I told you that I hate you?"

"Yes…, every half-an-hour for the past day."

_

* * *

_

Getting dressed in his black boxers, Gaara undid the band on his hair, letting them loose and cover the ears, before taking a set on his bed that was put right opposite from Naruto's; Both beds were in the opposite ends of the room's corners, right away from the door and just below two big windows for each one of them to rise beside. And only one shelf for clothes that lined the wall closest to Naruto's bed and a decorative table in the middle of the room was the last of the furniture in there.

Naruto just finished with his own hair and was about to take off his blindfold when suddenly he stopped…. Both looked at the afar door…and after two seconds time there was a knock.

"Come in," shouted Naruto, going over to Gaara and taking a seat beside him, already sensing that the old man wished to come in for a talk.

Smiling, Gennou entered the room and silently closed the door. "Can I talk to you two for a minute?" he half asked, half pleaded.

"Sure," smiled Naruto while Gaara only nodded.

"I guess this day wasn't exactly the best for us all, huh!?" amusingly said Gennou, approaching the two sitting teens and stopping in front of them.

'_Really?! What a sharp observation!' _inwardly snarled Naruto, remembering the last day's events.

"Naruto…, I know that you are very angry with what happened today at the Hokage's…, but please, don't get Minato wrong! He's a good guy and he is very sorry of what he did…. He just didn't think that it would offend you so much," spoke the old-man in sympathetic and convincing voice.

"Well it sure didn't seem like he was even the nearest way at 'sorry'…" huffed the blond, protesting.

For a brief minute the room went quiet…till Gennou abruptly began speaking, "Times weren't easy for him." hurt and understanding pain filling his voice.

'_Oh… and you think they were easy for me?!' _mentally thought Naruto, not caring what the old-man was trying to say…

…One the other hand, Gaara got curious, "What do you mean?"

Lowering his eyes to the ground, Gennou lost his smile and looked at the window covered in night's blackness, only to see his reflection showing by the room's given light. "About six years ago… Minato lost his son," sadly said Gennou, straight to the point.

Gaara blinked at that while Naruto slightly frowned, not understanding what brought this suddenly up…!?

"The news of Minato having a son were supposed to be kept under a S-class secret till the day the boy was to turn twelve. Only few of people did know about the boy's existence. He wanted to protect him, so he kept the boy a secret from everyone – his enemies, the villagers and even the elders. And it came till this day and still no-one ever knew that the boy ever existed."

Walking over to the window, Gennou opened it to be hit with a warm breeze. Leaning his elbows on the windowsill, he closed his eyes and sighed quietly. "He was seven years old then…his son…, when that one faithful night his life made a huge turn."

Naruto shivered a bit at the ticklish breeze that run through his back, while Gaara turned and set on the bed cross-legged to have a full look at the old-man.

"Minato came back from his two-week long mission only to find out that his little boy is missing…. Since only nine members knew about the boy's existence, they were summoned for a search party. I also was one of them." The old-man let a small smile grace his face before it faded away.

"Only after a year of long search, we found him in the Kika Island of the Sea country."

Naruto slightly gritted his teeth hearing that land while Gaara's eyes widened a bit, _'This sounds fairly bizarre… That's where Naruto and I crashed after the collision of that bloody jutsu.'_

"That's when the disaster came," continued Gennou in a deep voice, bringing Gaara out of his thoughts. "Not anticipating our arrival, those damned psychotic bastards were right in the middle of experimenting on the boy. The sight that they were doing to the fearfully screaming child led Minato to go berserk… He killed every man in his way all by himself. However… he slipped within his own anger when suddenly one man grabbed the weakly, half awakened boy and was about to slice his throat, giving neither the time nor the power to stop him…. But then…the unexpected happened. The boy was suddenly absorbed by a steaming red-chakra that pushed away and viciously burned the kidnaper he was held by. Strange screams was the last thing we heard when an explosion suddenly accrued from that chakra. When we came to, the only thing left from the boy was a steaming red-chakra slowly fading away….

For hours…, days…, weeks… and months of no more leads to the boy's other trail except only the dungeon, we started assuming his disappearance behind that strange red-chakra. We began examining it. After two years of long research, there was only one thing we found out about it. …And ironically, that was that it wasn't human's chakra. We have theories to believe that the boy is still alive somewhere, since we have no proof of him being dead…" hope shone through Gennou's eyes as he turned back to the quiet sitting boys, "…but then again, these might be only theories."

"Did the research of the lab's experiments gave you any other leads?" asked the red-head.

"No, none! But I found something more interesting instead." He smiled the knowing look that showed something that shouldn't be known. "Right at the next room of the one we found Minato's son, there was a fading yellow-chakra that assumed to be a victim of another one…"

'_What?!' _the minds of both shouted, seeing that the possibility of the child… or as it starts to seem – children… disappearance might have been of no mere coincidence involving them. _'But yet, it all happened six years ago…and we just got here…!? Could have there been a possibility of worlds' imbalance in the time?'_

Gaara's mouth set up a thin line…

"Why are you telling us all this?" coolly asked Naruto, sounding not bothered by it at all.

"…" looking quietly at the teen for what seemed like hours, Gennou finally formed another smile with something unreadable glinting in his eyes. "Because you remind me of him," he said simply.

"…" Naruto's breath stopped right there.

The way Gennou spoke and the way Gaara saw his eyes shone…, it could be simply formulated as the way of saying – _'I know who you are!'_

Smiling with delight, Gennou walked up to the two abruptly frozen, wide-eyed boys and ruffled their hair, whispering, "Don't worry! …I won't tell," and silently he went to exit the room, leaving the boys to think everything over in peace.

"How does he know?" whispered Naruto, asking Gaara's question out-loud…

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_Hi! Hope you liked the chapter & till next time…_

_By the way…, sorry for delay…;))_

* * *


	8. Chapter 8

* * *

'_**Chapter 8'**_

* * *

The night went by faster than you could say 'What a Hell?!' …in Naruto's case.

Covering his face away from the warmth of the slowly rising sun, peeping behind the curtains, Naruto turned his back to the morning and gave his mind another five minutes of extra sleep to stay in the cozy bed.

"Naruto, wake up already!!" but of course _somebody _just had to go and ruin it all.

"Stupid _panda_…" sleepily mumbled the blond. "Go…Away…" he hissed at his best-friend, burying his face into the soft pillow.

"I've already done that twice or did you forget?! Now, come on, get up! We must head to the Hokage's," said Gaara as he entered the room to come and stand by Naruto's bed.

"Hokage's…" snarled the blond under covers, "I'll fry that _Hokage _someday." He spoke with 'pride'.

"That's nice Naruto," ignoring the whole thing Gaara crossed his arms and waited, "Now hurry the hell up! It's time to go!"

'_I'm NOT going!! Bahh – this is such a drag…, I think I'm gonna be sick!…!?… Wait! There's an idea…'_ suddenly Naruto started coughing like mad, "…I-…I can't go anywhere today Gaara… I… I… feel sick…" he lied as he began moaning and wriggling under the covers for the show… at least tried to….

After a minute long awkwardly weird turning and whining under the sheets, Naruto stopped and looked as if peeking from underneath the covers trying to sense if Gaara still stood there…?!

"You done?" asked the red-head.

"Mmmnn…aahhh… I think I'm gonna faint…" Naruto proceeded fidgeting, once again resuming his 'well acting experience' that never worked when it came to Gaara… _'Shitty brother!!' _pouted Naruto.

The green-eye of the elder skipped a twitch…or nine. "You're such a child sometimes Naruto. If I didn't know you, you would have to kill me before I would start believing that you are one of the deadliest creatures alive…"

"Am not a child," pouted Naruto. "Look, I have a major headache… Believe it!! …so leave me alone," hiding himself behind the covers, he tried to sound like some wounded puppy.

Rubbing his forehead, Gaara restrained his eyes from twitching again. _'Drama queen…' _Rolling his eyes, he finally sighed and pulled the covers off of the _fox_, who yelped and momentarily brought his legs closer to himself in order to save the remains of the stolen warmth as the cold-breeze hit his body. "YOU MEAN THING!!"

"Breakfast is almost ready. Be downstairs in fifteen minutes," voicing out his demand, Gaara turned away from the angered blond and went to exit the room along with Naruto's warm blanket-of-life.

Roaring, Naruto threw a pillow after Gaara that crashed against the door just as Gaara closed it.

'_Hrrmmm…' _half sighing and half growling at the Gods that apparently hated him, Naruto kicked himself out of the bed and worked his way to the shelf, preparing for the 'family reunion'. _'I'm reeeally starting to hate my life…,'_ 'sniffing out' the scent of his clothes, Naruto picked them out, grabbed his blindfold from windowsill and marched to the bathroom…

After a quick shower, he put the clothes on, not caring the color they really were, since Gaara bought them clothes that will match each other.

Today he ended up wearing dark-green baggy pants – that were a bit loose and hanging low on his hips –, same colored bandanna, usual white sash that he grew found of, and a white t-shirt.

Brushing his lightly wet, long hair, Naruto expertly made a long braid, tied the bandanna behind his scalp and grabbed the blindfold…

…Holding it in his hand for what might seem like hours, Naruto sadly frowned as suddenly his now previous life rushed by…

"All is lost…" he whispered to the air, "…my dreams, my friends, my promises, my… life…. And all in exchange of what?! …My _father_?" clenching the blindfold, Naruto gritted his teeth. _'Why must you always hurt me so?'_

Opening then his eyes, which hurt just by doing so, he blinked and looked up at what he felt must be a mirror in front of him. Reaching out, he placed a gentle hand on the steam (after his shower) covered glass and brushed the foggy surface away. For two minutes he stared at his reflection… but couldn't see anything except the darkness….

Taking the blindfold's other end into his second hand; Naruto sighed and put the soft and soothing fabric on his hurting eyes, which slightly calmed as he closed them.

'_Will I ever be able to take you off my eyes?' _he sadly wondered as he tied the fabric behind his head and under the braid before turning his back to the mirror and heading to the door.

* * *

"Good morning, sunshine! Ready for your punishment-meeting?" smiled teasingly Gennou's son at Naruto with already gathered group of workers in the living room.

"Why you-…" cursing the man's luck for being prohibited upon using any jutsus on him, Naruto still found some satisfaction by chasing after the laughing man, about to beat him into a-…

"Naruto!" called Gaara from the kitchen.

Letting the man go, who was by now covering his face away from the painful punch the blond was about to deliver, Naruto growled and walked to the kitchen.

"Good morning, Naruto!" greeted Gennou, standing alone in the kitchen with Gaara, who was eating an apple.

"Hey…," grumbled the grouchy and displeased morning person entering the kitchen. Ignoring the breakfast on the table, Naruto headed towards the refrigerator and grabbed what seemed like an orange-juice.

Gaara watched as Naruto purred the juice into the glass and quietly drank it, while Gennou had his usual smile in place.

"So…Gramps…" started the blond, as he placed the empty glass on the table and turned to the old-man. "…what was all that yesterday?" he asked with a frown and crossed his arms, not caring whether they were late for the Hokage meeting or not…, he could care less about that.

Gennou's smile widened, whilst Gaara leaned against the counter he was standing by and darted his eyes from the old-man to his best-friend and backwards.

Taking off his glasses to clean them, the old-man walked to the kitchen door and pushed them close. "You know…, after three years of empty leads, Minato give his hopes up on you…or should I say – the other you?!"

Naruto deepened his frown but stayed silent.

As the story went, Gennou lost his slowly fading smile along with it. "Next year after the three, he started feeling a great guilt of fears and mostly believes for his son's death. …Dreams were hunting him…, insomnia led him to sleepless, painful nights… and those same nights led him to insanity…"

"Insanity?" asked Gaara.

"He started talking to himself and imagining his son's every morning's greeting… But when it didn't come… Minato started searching for him, thinking of it as a game of 'hide 'n' seek'. And once he didn't find him…well…let's just say that no man was strong enough to comprehend the situation that followed."

Gaara skipped a look at his 'brother' and sadly lidded his eyes, seeing that Naruto simply stood indifferent – nor sadness nor understanding or sympathy was there to be sensed… only deeper anger upon the man Gennou was talking about. That made Gaara fairly sad, _'They both been through so much…and yet…none of the two will ever understand each other's pain.'_ closing his eyes for quiet two-three seconds, Gaara then turned back to Gennou.

"It started to happen too often," sadly continued Gennou, "There is only so much that every man can handle… and Minato was no different. He was losing it. It was just too much to take. Thereby… we erased his memories."

Gaara blinked at that.

"So I guess that also answers our last meetings question of Minato's sudden curiosity for Naruto!?" pointed out the old-man.

"He remembered his son in Naruto?" asked Gaara, remembering the strange aura Namikaze had around himself whenever he looked at his 'son'.

"No, he doesn't remember anything regarding his son…" smiled the old-man, "but the close feeling to the interaction between a 'father and son' did made him see weird and for his mind inconceivable images…"

"You know Gennou…" finally intervened Naruto with calm between angry voice, "I asked you to tell me how on earth you know who we are!? NOT the mental problems of as you believe my _father_." he hissed the last part out.

Gennou flinched at the venomous tone, but gave a sad and somewhat painful smile whilst nodding in slow apology and understanding, knowing that Naruto sensed it.

Gaara also caught the meaning – that Gennou was trying to get Naruto to forgive his father and embolden him upon giving a chance. …But he also knew that for Naruto those were just empty words… He did go through so much more than anyone save himself and other look-alikes could ever imagine.

For some time, the kitchen went silent till Gennou gave up and sighing, seeing that convincing the teen will be of no use… at least not from his mouth it won't.

"I once was familiar with the demon named Shukaku." without as much as a foreplay said Gennou crossing his arms and placing a new smile back up as he saw Gaara's eyes widen somewhat.

"Shukaku?!" asked Naruto, a little shock gracing his voice.

"Yes…" grinned the old-man, "Do you know 'im?" he asked, amusement coloring his words as if he already knew what the answer will be but still wanted to play…

"Cut the crap, Gramps!" growled Naruto, "You already know that."

Grinning wider, Gennou affirmed. "That I do!" he sang and quieted for another 'smile-full' minute.

Now both of the boys were impatiently growling at him.

With a small laugh at the impatience, Gennou then thoughtfully said while turning to look out of the window. "Demons are very unique creatures, are they not?! They can give you so many answers and so much more questions in return that is so immense to such naïve beings like humans." He laughed at that.

"What are you saying?!" demanded both at the same time.

Looking at the two over his shoulder, Gennou slightly smirked. "I do believe that just by the mention of a word 'demon'… it means the whole answer to all your questions."

"…?!…?!…?!…" That just led nowhere.

Amused at the funny confused expressions, Gennou abruptly clapped his hands and ushered them out, "Now come on – come on! Hurry! You're already late for the meeting." He encircled the frozen teens shoulders and led them to the door.

"Wh-what?! Wait! Hold on a minute! What do you mean – 'you're late'…?!" jumping out of his daze, Naruto started protesting, "How come you're all not going?" he growled pointing at the waving group of sitting men saying 'good luck!'.

"Well…while our _princess_ was still sleeping, we already went out and took care of it," chirped the amused son of Gennou from the living-room.

"I'm gonna hurt you!!" promisingly hissed the blond at the received name before Gennou dragged him and his still confused 'brother' out of the house.

As the both were pushed out on the porch, Gennou smiled and said to them from his spot by the door, "Now Naruto – be good! And Gaara, explain Naruto what he missed while he was sleeping so he won't be left out! Ta-ta!" with that said he closed the door behind the two still forms.

"What a Hell just happened?!" asked Naruto.

Shaking his head from the dozen of thoughts flying by, Gaara threw the remains of the apple somewhere he did not quite care where, dusted the imaginary dust on his dark pants, inspected his white t-shirt and sash to be clean before grabbing the self-lost Naruto by his wrist, and walked off.

"Since you and I already have to go to the Hokage's on the privet meeting, they didn't bother waking us up and went to take care of the papers earlier." explained the red-head Naruto's previous question to Gennou.

"How much earlier could they go? The sunrise isn't even halfway up!"

"Gennou said that some urgent news came up and they were summoned earlier to savior the time."

"Oh but _of course _those urgent news just couldn't _happen_ when you and I are to go to the oh'mighty Hokage? Where's the justice in this world?!" sarcastically grumbled the _fox _and kept on fuming at the unfairness in life… he really didn't want to go….

"Bear with it, brother! It might not go so bad," assured Gaara.

"Baah… why is it all happening to me?!" whined the blond.

Rolling his dark-greens, Gaara decided to change the theme, "Notice anything strange in Gennou?"

Grumbling at his 'brother' for interrupting him from his recently favorite hobby of thinking a way to kill his 'father' in record time, Naruto grouchy sighed but still answered, "Not that I'm aware of it, no. Why?"

"I don't know?! It just felt familiar for a second back there…"

"Familiar? In what way?" _'My head hurts…' _Naruto felt confused – that's been happening too often to him lately…

"I… don't know?!" and Gaara was no different with his situation.

"Alright…" still confused, the blond let it slip and inhaled a good amount of fresh air in order to 'ventilate' the forming migraine in his brain. "Let's just get this over with please! We can think about what Gennou said later. We got a _lot_ of time…" said Naruto as they stopped in front of the Hokage-Tower.

"Six hundred sixty-six years to be exact…if we will make it," mumbled Gaara taking a step next to Naruto and looking up at the familiar Tower.

* * *

"Be nice!" quietly warned Gaara as they followed a Chunin (they met by the entrance) up the stairs and down the hall.

"I'm always nice," pouted Naruto, sounding offended.

"If it wasn't one of your most recently used statements I _might_ have believed you…" mumbled Gaara.

"Since when did you ever become so caring?" hissed the blond, wondering when did Gaara started considering other people welfare (save those he knew)…?!

"Since the day I met you," quietly whispered back the red-head.

"Yeah… well…!?…!?… That doesn't count!" grumbled Naruto, crossing his arms; not liking the fact that sometimes the good things that he does to help the others later backfire to his own disadvantage and fault… and he so wished that Gaara would be on his side right now and allow him to slaughter his dimensional father.

Rolling his eyes, yet slightly smiling at his 'brother', Gaara stopped when they came to stand in front of the Hokage's door. Faint voices could be heard; the Chunin knocked twice and the voices died down.

"Enter!" said the now familiar voice of the Namikaze.

The Chunin opened the doors and let the two boys in.

As the two entered, Naruto thought he was about to go nuts from the presence of that certain _man_…and do absolutely nothing about it. _'God, please kill me after all this!' _mentally cried Naruto.

"Good morning, Gaara! …Naruto…!" Minato greeted, though the last word was spoken a little bit more careful…as if afraid to make the boy snap or something!?…

"Namikaze-sama," both nodded at the same time.

Seeing the blind-boy nod as well, made Minato smile a little. "I won't be long now. Please have a seat. Make yourselves comfortable," he gestured the two towards the couch while mentioning the conversation he's having with the other men in the room.

"Thanks!" yet again the two said at the same time, making Minato's smile widen a bit – happy with the fact that the blond-boy is more responsive today than he was last night. _'Damn teenagers and their crazy period moods!'_

From the other perspective, Naruto was killing himself on the inside. _'This is torture! GOD…I'm gonna _die_!! Why on earth are you making me wait?! Breathing the same air as you is choking me enough… And just what a Hell are you glaring at Uchiha? Can't you see I already have enough eyes on me as it is?! -Oh look at that: –Kakashi-sensei is here. Strange…, he seems quite young from the smell of it. I wonder, where's that book of his? I don't sense it here. –hmm…, the Pervy-Sage is here as well? That sure is interesting. …?!…Is he drooling at me? The pervert! No matter the dimensions you never change I see; –and is that Grandma-Tsunade? …Well, just as old and beautiful as ever…I think!? At least feels that way…._

_Well joy! …never did I think that there will be so many people to slaughter today. Great!! All you need now is-…?!…?! …?! …?! …?! …Noooo… wayyy…!!'_ Naruto paled; good thing he was sitting, 'cause he would be on the floor by now._ '…OH MY LORD! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! WHAT A HECK IS _THAT_ THING DOING HERE!?! PERVY-SAGE!! WHY ON EARTH ARE YOU SO CALM? COME ON!! KILL THE DAMN THING BEFORE IT CRAWLS AWAY!!_

_OH GOD! I CHANGEG MY MIND – KILL _ME_NOW__!! I HATE THIS DIMENSION!!'_

Gaara glanced from the corner of his eyes to see Naruto's mouth slightly agape. _'What a Hell?!' _frowned the red-head, not quite understanding what was so shocking, knowing fully well that Naruto almost never showed any signs of emotion when it came to situations like these. Gaara was about to ask Naruto what's up, but one of the other presented in the room, he didn't know who the man was, suddenly spoke…,

"Minato…" asked an amused and lustful hiss of a voice, "…Who are these two charming creatures?"

Naruto felt his head spinning and leaned into the couch, cursing Gaara for binding his hands and prohibiting him from almost anything he ever had a new meaning to live for. Sighing he tried to think something other than killing right now…, _'Ok… happy thoughts! – happy thoughts – happy thoughts – happy-…GHAaa…THAT'S NOT EVEN HELPING!! HOW ON EARTH AM I SUPPOSED TO THINK OF HAPPY THOUGHTS WHEN THERE ARE SO MANY PEOPLE TO KILL IN THIS ROOM?!'_ growling and crying in his mind, Naruto rubbed his temples, restreined his claws from scratching something and leaned deeper into the couch, throwing his head back for it to rest – that was just too much… _'I hate my life!'_

"The _charming creatures_ are the hired workers of Gennou, Orochimaru," a bit irritated said Minato, bringing the rest out of their corrupted minds; for some strange reason he wasn't quite satisfied with the way the _snake_-Sannin was looking at the two teens.

"Minato… I did tell you to get laid, but don't you think that these two are a bit too young for your taste?" asked Jiraiya, making the irritation of two teens almost explode to the killing mode, but they got beat…

Embarrassed and enraged Minato snapped and threw the first thing his hands got to – which was the Hokage-chair, "SHUT UP YOU OLD GOAT!! WHO EVER ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION ANYWAY?!"

"AAAAHHH!" screamed or squealed Jiraiya as the chair almost hit him, but he managed to duck.

Sighing, Minato rubbed his forehead to calm down and said, "As I already did mention… – the boys' names are Gaara and Naruto…"

The three Sannin in the room slightly tensed at that one very familiar name, _'Naruto?! …Could he be…'_ but after three seconds of time that thoughtful frown disappeared into one of the disappointment.

By their sudden reaction Gaara already figured that they must have thought of Naruto as that lost son for a second… _'There should be no wonder for the Sannin to be the ones of the said known party about the Namikaze's son's existence.'_ …But the silence and the slowly fading emotions in their eyes showed him that the false chakra and the scent Naruto was covered with led them to deceptive beliefs.

"…They're here to help us with the structure problems."

"Are they now?!" jokingly grinned the Toad-Sage, as he returned to his happy-perverted-self and teasingly roomed his eyes all over the boys' bodies.

"Yes…, you pervert of a shinobi," hissed Minato under his breath before taking two pieces of paper in hand and advanced the two sitting forms; handing them the lists.

Gaara angrily snatched the papers out of Namikaze's hands while still glaring at Naruto's 'dimensionally parallel' teacher, who got the guts to even dare and wink at him…

A strong wind suddenly hit the streets of the village and made its presence know by pushing against the windows outside the Tower, making the adults slightly jump before one of the windows flew completely open and a mug of gathered sand in the wind hit the closest person standing by it, which _accidentally _happened to be Jiraiya.

"Jesus…What a-…Shit!!," cursed the Toad-Sage as he was hit to the ground from the forced pressure of the strong sand and wind.

Naruto almost burst out laughing but hid his laughter with a slight cough and a frown while mindless to others punched Gaara playfully to the side for doing that to his 'teacher'. Gaara merely smirked and started reading the papers the Namikaze gave them to sign whilst explaining Naruto what was written there.

Blinking (and chuckling in between) at the sudden and rather rare event, Minato looked at the two innocent looking boys very intensely discussing the _interesting _article, whilst the Sannin helped the _toad_ to his feet – all the way teasing the klutz while they're at it. Shrugging at the apparent weather's unpredictable ways, Minato coughed loud to get the rest back to business after walking to the window and closing it.

'_Bizarre. There is nor any wind nor any signs of storm approaching,' _frowned Minato as he closed the window while looking out at the blue-blue sky.

Bloody _Sharingan _eyes slightly narrowed…

* * *

Sitting back at the back placed Hokage-chair, Minato spoke, continuing their previous conversation, "So we have three months?"

"Yes," glancing carefully at the two distracted boys filling the papers, Jiraiya crossed his arms and quietly said to Minato as he passed him behind and walked over to lean against one of the windows, "According to the gathered sources, their current situation leads them to the rather unavoidable situation."

"Good… that gives us enough time," nodded the blond-haired man as he turned the chair and locked his eyes with piercing yellow. "Orochimaru, have your students arrived at the border yet?"

"Hmm…" proudly smirked the _snake-_Sannin at the used statement and said, "Not yet… They will be here in five days time. The journey is quite long from the Sound you know."

"Very well then. Tsunade, has the medical corp. all the needed supplies for the portions?"

"No. The supplies are running short." Disapprovingly shook her head the busty-woman, relaxing in the chair in front of the Hokage-desk.

"How many groups do you need to get them?" wondered the blond-man, playing with his pen.

"Two groups," she informed before adding, "If I may, then please assign Shizune and Ino's group. They specialize in that section far better than others."

"I wouldn't have assigned for anyone else," approved Minato smiling at the pleased Tsunade.

"Is there anything else?" Receiving a moment of none spoken silence, Minato exhaled in small happiness, "Ok…so I guess that will be all." He thanked them and grabbed some documents lying on the desk, going through them with tired eyes.

"Don't work yourself off too much, brat!" smiled Tsunade and without a word left, but not before skipping one last curious glimpse at the blond-boy. However, the suspicion was far from her wondering mind…, what really caught her attention was something fairly familiar hanging on his neck. It's a shame that she couldn't see it clearly because that _familiar-something_ was tucked under the boy's shirt – showing only the familiar string and a tiny layout through the white fabric. Paying it little need, she shrugged and exited the room.

Stretching his limbs out, Jiraiya glanced at his curiously looking companion Orochimaru by his side and grinning smacked him on the back. "See anything you like?" he teased as he caught him glimpsing at the two oblivious boys having a conversation over the pieces of paper.

Smirking Orochimaru quietly confirmed, "Perhaps so, but there is something else that's wondering my mind."

"Hmm…?!" frowning a bit, Jiraiya looked at the blind-boy for somewhat seconds before shaking his head and urging the _snake _out, "Quit talking to yourself and come on! We have a meeting with the elder goats." With that said Jiraiya went out with slowly trailing Orochimaru after him.

Skipping one last glance at the two teens, Orochimaru was greeted with an intense glare from the red-head, which he smirked at and closed the door after waving a 'goodbye', "See you later, Minato! And of course you too – Gaara-kun…, Naruto-kun…"

Naruto might not seem it…actually he _desperately_ tried not to seem it…, but on the inside he was already mentally dead, as a good _punching-bag_ just left without as of a single well deserved punch for satisfaction. _'I hate you Gaara… in fact – I hate every breathing thing right now!!'_

* * *

Signing the last of the documents, Minato exhaled and smiled up at the quietly talking boys already done with their own paperwork. Opening then his mouth to speak, he frowned as he was suddenly interrupted by a knock on the door…

"Come in!"

A dark colored man, not older than twenty, with unmistakably distinctive scar crossing his face and highly tied up brown-hair entered the room. Gaara recognized him immediately – the instructor of Konoha's Ninja Academy and the father-figure of his best-friend – Iruka Umino.

The man curiously looked at him and his 'brother' before kindly smiling at them and going towards the Namikaze. Leaning over he whispered something into his ear. What he said supposedly seemed to cheer the mood, guessed Gaara.

"Thank you," nodded Minato and watched as the young-man exited. With a pointed look, he then turned around and looked at the two quiet Anbu standing on either side behind him, both nodded and disappeared without the word…but one of the two seemed to be a little bit too reluctant before leaving his side.

Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or to keep gritting his teeth at the action he could practically see. _'Well would you look at that! Isn't that something!? Of all the people…, who would have thought that _the_ Uchiha Itachi would ever be so protective over my 'father'?!'_ the blond had to snarl. _'This is all like some bloody fairytale for better nightmares… urgh.'_

Narrowing his brows a bit with a little smile reaching his face, Minato slightly tilted his head at the pony-tailed Anbu, which was also left not unnoticed by the sly _fox_ that dramatically rolled his eyes in the mind, and finally, after what for him seemed like hours, the Anbu gave a nod and disappeared in a black-swirl.

Gaara blinked his green orbs as he caught the blazing eyes – full of warning – slightly visible behind the mask of the Anbu directed right towards him and his 'brother'. _'I knew those eyes will cause disturbance.' _They ought to be careful from now on.

"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long." apologized Minato, abruptly bringing the boys back to reality.

Gathering all the courage and mostly self-control, Naruto silently inhaled, _'Ok…'_ forcing a smile he spoke first (thinking that maybe if he will speak – the Namikaze will let them go faster, since it was all his fault that they were in this room right now to begin with.), "That's quite alright really." _'YEAH RIGHT,' _the _angry-reality _was screaming in Naruto's head. "So what was it that you wanted to talk to us about, Yondaime-sama?" _'GOD! I wanna kill you right now!!'_ inwardly wished the blond to yell at the elder-one.

"Oh please…" laughed Minato, "…don't call me that! I'm not the Hokage yet."

"Heh-heh… over my dead body you will…," quietly hissed Naruto through his toothy grin, which was slightly twitching by now; good thing Namikaze was oblivious by that moment.

Scowling, Gaara elbowed him to the ribs, quietly warning the teen. Naruto skipped a painful chuckle and bowed to hide the slightly pained expression. _'I can't take it… I think I'm gonna die from the pressure.' _mentally cried Naruto; how he wished he could jump out of the window…

"If I may ask, Namikaze-sama…" bringing the attention to himself, before Naruto goes completely insane in his head, Gaara asked, "… Why did you want to see us?"

"Well…" scratching the back of his neck, smiled Minato, "I wanted to apologies for the previous evening. Naruto, I am very sorry! I did not know that my action would offend you so much…"

"N-no problem…! I'm sorry as well," smiled Naruto, if you could call it like that…!?

"To be honest…" looking Naruto up, Minato slightly narrowed brows, "There is something about you that makes me fairly confused… Does it speak of anything to you?!"

"…?!… No…" as if innocently shrugged the blond before adding a statement, "…that only shows me that you're mentally paranoi-…OWw!!"

"What he was trying to say is… that we do not quite understand what you're saying!?" interrupted Gaara, glaring at Naruto who was rubbing his head and mumbling something under his breath.

The brotherly action made Minato chuckle a bit, it was a surprise that he didn't quite catch what the blond teen was mumbling before the red-head 'smacked' him on the head, and he didn't really care, for he then thought that the question he asked was rather stupid and unreasonable…

"I'm sorry…" laughed the Namikaze at his own statement, "… It's just that of a strange feeling like I have known you before Naruto. It confuses me so…" shaking his head as of no matter, Minato rose up and walked over to the boys to take the filled papers back.

Turning around, Minato slowly walked back to the desk while carefully going through the filled applications. Suddenly he stopped… Narrowing his brows, he looked from the papers up at the window before turning back to the teens. "You're related to Gennou's sister?"

'_Shit!!'_ inwardly cursed the two boys. _'How the Heck was I supposed to know that that's exactly how Gennou's sister is named?' _obviously the meant relative's name they planned to write was supposed to be a fake one and un-identical, but fate's kept playing tricks on them. "Yes!!" rather quickly affirmed Gaara in lies, "Y-yes, s-she's our rather afar relative…. She is the only one left till now…so you might as well say that Gennou is our second closest relative… meaning like an uncle."

"Really?!" narrowing his eyebrows in suspicious wonder, Minato folded his hands. "He didn't tell me any-…"

"Must have skipped his mind," abruptly butted in the blind-boy…, "Frankly. He found out about it only recently. He was quite surprised that moment, since he never knew about us before. 'Hmph'…! Some parent…"

Blinking once, Minato arched a fine brow before shaking his head _'I'll have to talk to Gennou later…'_ and walking back to the Hokage-desk to place the files in one of the drawers.

Putting the papers in, Minato set back down in the chair and silently saddened as he caught his gaze on Naruto's hand which brought back the past…, yet frowned when he did not see any bandages on it…. "Your hand… Did it hurt?"

Naruto was gladly ready to do the experiment on his 'father's' own hand and let him decide whether the kunai from the previous night hurt or was he simply happy to get a hole in the palm! _'…You son-of-a-…?!…?!…-my-grandmother?!…?!… No, that won't sound right!'_

Sighing, Naruto twitched a smile, "It's no problem really!" _'AS IF!! You sadistic ass! I don't see you getting pierced by an overly protective maniac. It's your ENTIRE fault, paps!! I'll kill you!!'_

"I deeply apologies for the wound that you got," softly said Minato before outstretching his right-hand, "Please… may I see it?!"

'_Tch…it's already healed!' _inwardly snarled the blond-boy as if it wasn't the most obvious thing…, before the realization struck him, _'OH NO!! IT'S ALREADY HEALED!!? He can't know that, right?! He's supposed to be the idiot left in the dark here… What do I do? WHAT DO I DO?? AAAAHH…'_

Suddenly the sun smiled upon Naruto as an Anbu appeared in front of his 'father'.

'_Thank you mother Mary,' _cheered the blond-boy.

"Namikaze-sama, He's here." briefly informed the familiar voice both teens learned to hate.

"Thank you! Please tell him that I'll be in a minute!" smiled the blond-man at the ebony-haired young-one.

'_YOU'RE HURTING MY BRAIN!!' _inwardly whined Naruto as he felt something he thought would resemble to a fatherly warmth his 'father' was giving to that bloody-_weasel_…; never the less the connection felt close.

Nodding, the _pony-tailed_ stood from his kneeling position and tilted his head to look (no… – glare) directly at… Naruto. _'WHY ME??!'_ Naruto resisted the urge to throw something at him as he heard a faint 'Hn' of arrogance, as if trying to show who's the superior here, before disappearing out of trace.

'_I think I will go mental soon…' _sighed Naruto for the hundredth time and leaned back into the couch. Resting his head at the back of the couch, he wondered if he will kill some rat in an alley would that be enough to satisfy him for some time?! _'Infinity of rats would sound better… Shit!! There ain't even that many here!! …Ok then… – Gaara!! That would be good. I will kill Gaara, 'CAUSE IT'S ALL HIS FAULT!!' _satisfied with his brilliant mind inwardly laughed Naruto before he started crying, _'I'm an idiot!'_

Disappointed for not being able to talk and find anything more about the boys, Minato gazed at the clock and nodded to himself, _'It's already eleven.' _Cursing the time as it flew, Minato stood up and smiled at the teens. "Well it appears that time is running short every time when you don't want it."

'_I love you time!!' _cheered opposite young-blond.

"Naruto… Gaara…, thank you for coming today!"

"Pleasure!" shortly said the teens as they stood up and came to stand in front of his desk.

"I won't go into details about your duties from now on, since I myself know nothing about the construction. So I'll just leave that to Gennou." Chuckled Minato, making Naruto's painful smile twitch with each passing second he was forced to stay here any longer.

'_Guess that's it!?' _"Ok then… I hope to see you two around!"

"Same here!" smiled Naruto. _'Let me out already you bastard!!' _

"Thank you, Namikaze-sama," bowed Gaara and stepped on Naruto's foot to do the same.

Turning then around, the groaning blond slightly limped to the door with the amused red-head following…

…But before Naruto could grab a handle – the door itself went open and a scent of smoke darted into Naruto's nostrils.

"Hello Mina'! And how did everything go so far?" came a warm greeting of a too well known voice.

Naruto's felt his heart stop for a moment and his mind suddenly froze as if a light he thought he will never see again suddenly shone up like nothing he felt before…

'_I… it's him…' _his mind stuttered. _'It's really … him…'_ Naruto felt a sudden urge to shed a joyful tear…but the stubborn mind made him believe that he forgot how to do it.

'_Old-man…'_ a small smile crept onto his lips.

Oblivious to the world and everyone in it, Naruto felt himself going depth as distant voices were calling him far-far away while he was being pulled deeper-deeper into the urge of rushing emotions and forgotten memories…

"_It's ok to cry my child…" _that one statement echoed as Naruto remembered the love of one person he ever came to respect… _'Old-man'_

Abruptly he was brought back as his chin was gently grasped into familiar warm fingers and pulled slowly up, while he felt another hand brushing away something strangely wet sliding over his cheeks… he actually felt himself cry.

"Whom do I own the honor of such beautiful tears?" asked a soft and lovely voice he missed so dearly.

'_Old-man,' _Naruto slightly sniffed, not noticing himself grab the man's old yet very strong hand and squeezing it as hard as his heart wanted to tell him that he's alive.

"What's your name, my child?" again, that voice spoke, making Naruto's heart painfully pound against his chest.

Skipping a painful sound between a sob and a chuckle, he did not know he held, Naruto bowed his head in his own shame and whispered a quiet, "I'm sorry." and let the man's hand go.

Naruto was brought aback as he was suddenly enveloped into the strong hands protectively circling his whole form.

He momentarily tensed at the sudden action…, but the so familiar warmth he did not feel for so long made him feel so weak and so vulnerable that he allowed for just one second… that pathetically tiny, little second …to really close his eyes and let his body free from the strong walls he was hiding behind his whole life. Slowly he encircled his smaller arms around the firm shoulders, burying his face into the breathing and warm chest he thought he will never get to hear again. The smell of smoke was still presented in that man as if it never died down…

'_I missed you so much!'_

He felt so safe in those tender arms…, so safe that he simply let himself go…. It was like a dream he forgot could ever exist….

Giving one more tight squeeze, reluctantly, Naruto let the warmth go and stepped a bit away.

Standing right in front of him was an old man holding a pipe in his right-hand. His purple-white hair matched his short beard; he was wearing white and red colored robes with a red fire symbol print on a hat on his head. The man was quite old for his age – slight wrinkles covered his kind face and unmistakable four markings were going from each side of his loving dark-purple eyes…

'_Sandaime Hokage' _whispered to himself Gaara, as he held a gentle hand on his 'brother's' shoulder for support.

Minato was also next to the frozen group still standing by the door. Curiosity and concern was well hidden, yet still slightly shown as he watched the blind-boy who had his head lowered with a gentle smile up his face.

'_Old-man…'_

"It's ok to cry my child," spoke that dear voice Naruto wished he could hear every day for the rest of his life, and gently whipped away the remains of his few little tears. "But please… tell me what's bothering you my boy?! It pains me to see such delicate soul in pain."

Chuckling at the same old attitude of the elder, Naruto licked his dry lips and shakily inhaled to speak, "I… I am sorry… I…It's just that… yo-you sounded exactly like my step-grandfather," and Naruto did not lie, for he really thought of Sarutobi as his grandfather, but they won't know that….

"Well then…" smiling with full spirit, the Hokage straightened up, "…I'm sure he was a very good and handsome man," laughed the _Third_, trying to cheer the obviously distressed boy up by praising himself upon comparing his greatness with the parent the boy seemed to cherished; seeing that the boy spoke of his grandfather in past form, Sarutobi guessed that the man must have been long gone from the world.

'_You have no idea,' _smiled Naruto at the old-man's statement.

Smirking a bit at his sensei's words, Minato teased, "Don't forget to add picky and lazy."

Coughing at the direct statement, Sarutobi scratched his neck, "Yes…well… Let's just say that a man needs his rest every once and a while."

Shaking his head, amused, Minato went over to the desk and took out the papers he previously gave the 'brothers' to fill up with a bunch of other papers to make the pile look bigger and handed them to Sarutobi.

'_More paperwork?!' _growled Sarutobi low in his throat and thanked his student with a sarcastic smile.

Grumbling, he eyed the files and after understanding what they really were he felt pleased, "Ah, so Gennou finally arrived? Well, that sure is good news."

"Yes, he arrived yesterday evening. And the boys right here are two of his hired workers for the job," informed Minato.

"Oh!" a little surprised, voiced Sarutobi as he looked at the 'brothers'. "Then you must be…" looking at the papers he then looked at Naruto and said "Gaara…" and then back at the papers, " and Na-…?!" frowning at the name he finish saying it his mind, the old-man looked suspiciously at the red-head who seemed to have a slight twitch in his eye…

"No, Sarutobi-sensei," laughed Minato, oblivious by his sensei's inner thoughts, "It's the other way around."

"Oh! I am really sorry, Gaara," looking at Gaara he smiled in apology and turned his gaze back to the other "…and… …Naruto…"

Gaara could see the deep emotions rushing through eldest's eyes the minute he laid them on Naruto…, but just as the Sannin did the previous time, the old-man lowered his eyelids and got the look of that of a disappointment.

Naruto lowered his mood as he sensed the troubling look in his 'grandfather'. Right now he really wished he could yell out the truth, but dared not. Sighing, Naruto slightly bowed his head but still let the smile cover his features… – happy with the fact that a part of his 'grandfather' is still alive.

After a brief moment of silence and quiet observation of the boys, Sarutobu suddenly remembered what he came here for in the first place and skipped an embarrassed laugh, "Curse my old mind! Mina'! I have some really important news that I must discuss with you right now." He spoke with seriousness in his eyes.

Nodding, Minato turned back to the 'brothers'. "Thank you two again for coming! And before you go… could you please give this to Gennou for me? It's regarding the structure." He asked as he handed Gaara a scroll.

Nodding, both bowed and silently exited the room.

Watching the boys go, Sarutobi took a whiff from his pipe and turned to his student, "Is everything alright Minato?" he asked as he silently absorbed the blond-man, thinking.

Arching a brow in question, Minato looked sideways before asking, "Yes. …Why do you ask?"

Narrowing his brows the elder then abruptly smiled and shook his head, "No reason."

* * *

"Naruto…"

"…"

"Naruto!?"

"…"

"Hey! Naruto!"

"Gaara…"

"Yes?"

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!"

"What a-…?! Why? I thought it went quite well!?" confused asked the red-head as he and his friend walked down the halls.

"Shut up, you ass! I almost chocked Hell in that room." growled Naruto.

"Yes, I know-…" rolling his eyes, mumbled Gaara, knowing where all this will lead to.

"I know myself that _you know_!! Do you have any other smart replies for me?" fumed the blond at his best-friend's indifferent replies.

"Get over it!"

"Thank you brother!!" sarcastically screamed Naruto, "Let me write it in my note-book of main reasons _why_ I want to kill a certain _panda _so much."

"I'm honored! You're writing a book about me?!"

"GHAAaa…" just when Naruto was about to 'kill' the smirking Gaara, the all too well know and all too much hated Anbu appeared in their way.

'_What a Hell does he want?' _frowned Naruto. "Can we help you?" he asked with emotionless smile.

The aura tightened, signing the boys that the Anbu was not quite pleased with their presence here or anywhere in the Konoha at all…

"Let me escort you to the door," came a hiss of a _lovely-_proposition from the pony-tailed Anbu, who only deepened his 'glued' frown once he saw the teens merely nod and show not even the slightest fear against his threatening aura.

The whole way out was spent in silence as Naruto and Gaara walked ahead of the Anbu walking after them and glaring the sharpest daggers his mind could master.

'_Stop glaring, you glaring machine of destruction!! Geez…doesn't anyone have hobbies nowadays?!' _snorted the blond in his mind at the following _prodigy_.

Finally they came to a stand by the entrance door and both boys turned to thank the escort.

"Thank you, Anbu-san!" fakely smiled Naruto as he dramatically bowed, making Gaara inwardly amused roll his eyes.

"Don't sigh when you're still in the woods, boy," crossing his arms abruptly flatly stated the _pony-tailed_.

Twitching in his smile slightly, _'That's it!! I'm gonna kill him in his sleep!!…And I don't care where he is when he sleeps – the thought makes me happy.'_ Naruto straightened up and arched a confused brow, "I'm not quite sure I understand what you're saying, Anbu-_san_?!"

Taking two steps forward, the pony-tailed Anbu came to tower over fifteen-centimeter shorter blond. "Oh I think you do…, Naruto-_kun_," he said in deep, threatening voice. "Just note to yourself! If I ever will see you display any sort of threat or as much as a sneer towards the Namikaze-sama… I will personally make sure that there won't be as much as a dust left after you. I hope we understand each other!? Good day!" with that he disappeared in a black-swirl.

After a moment of silence Naruto abruptly burst laughing…,

"Ch-check it out Gaara… I already made some enemies!! Can my life go any fucking better?!" sarcastically cheered the go-crazy blond. "Gods!! I'm gonna kill myself soon from the corruption of this world… and it's ALL your fault!!" he fumed as he pointed accusingly at his 'brother' who was trying to cover his laughter about the whole situation. …No matter how tragic it might seem to his best-friend, for him it was all so very interesting…

'_This is turning out to be so much fun,' _smirked Gaara.

* * *

_A/N_

_Thank you so much for the reviews – _Eovin, ANBUTrysts, Johnny-on-the-spot, -siarafaerie-101-miss, Afira, Lyridium, RabidMobRabbit, SlashnYaoi!

…_& everyone else for all the previous times – _NekoDoodle, PirateCaptainBo, KitsuneNaru, Stoic-Genius, living laughing dead, Skye-Chan 12, EdSpikeSesshyGirl, whiteinu1, Tesumaru, RaitenKitsune, greeneboy313!

… _& all those who are still __follow__ing with the tale (I hope you like it so far…?!)!_

_Thank you again & till next time…_

* * *


	9. Chapter 9

* * *

'_**Chapter 9'**_

_

* * *

_

"…hhrrrmmm…" grumbling low in his throat, Naruto rubbed his forehead (trying to forget everything what happened this morning) as he and his 'brother' made their way down the Leaf's streets.

Walking besides the blind-boy, Gaara soon broke the silence, "Naruto, who was the long, black-haired pail-guy with yellow eyes and purple like marks coming from the inner corners?" he asked, remembering the sly looking man they met in the Hokage-office. "From your expressions it appeared like you knew him. And the appearance of your teacher or that grandmother of yours doesn't seem to be changed between dimensions… so I guess neither did that guy!?" theoretically he thought.

'_WHICH PART OF _'I'M TRYING TO FORGET EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED TODAY'_ DID YOU NOT UNDERSTAND!!? Idiotic brother! Why can't you leave me at that?!' _pinching the bridge of his nose to calm the lust for _dear_ 'brother's' death right now, Naruto heavily sighed out, "That was Orochimaru… the offal Sasuke went to fetch the ball for."

Blinking, Gaara finally remembering where he heard that name before. "So that was him!?" he asked, since had never seen the man in person.

Nodding, Naruto placed his hands in pockets and deeply inhaled the morning breeze.

Taking a glance at the silent and deeply thinking _fox_, that was definitely not the Naruto he knew, Gaara smirked and abruptly blurted out at his own risk, "He seems to have a little liking to you."

Naruto felt like being just smacked, and finally after _three_ he burst out, "YOU'RE DEAD!!"

So the meeting concluded with Naruto chasing after the snickering red-head around the village-streets… for what reason?! many passers wondered…

_

* * *

_

Yet again (after hours of running) they were walking down the streets of Konoha; however apart from the usual cloud above the head, Naruto was radiating the aura of happiness. Withal the two were running, Gaara deliberately started searching a place where Naruto will definitely forget all about his bloody-murder…, which of course was his long lost _love_ – that is called by the name of _ramen_.

As the two made their way down the streets with the plastic cups full of juicy, hot, just-made ramen to go along while walking, soon they came to their group that was having a meal of barbeque.

"Hey there, troublemakers!" waved one of the coworkers as the teens passed the opened window where the whole group could be seen eating in different seats and cooking their own food.

Coming over to the opened-window, both leaned against the either side of it while devouring their own food (…or rather simply Naruto's favorite ramen…).

"So… how did it go?" intrigued smirked Gennou in amused tone – especially for Naruto to sense.

"I wanna hit you right now!"rumbled the blond.

Gaara merely shrugged, say in the silent gesture that it was 'alright', and handed the old-man, sitting the closest to the opened window, the previously given scroll.

Satisfied with the usually awkward answers from the teens, the others continued with their meals and previous conversations.

"I see that Konoha's favorite ramen has its usual invincibility over the preferred food." amused thought Gennou pointing at the cups of boiled food after reading the scroll.

"You should rather say that Naruto has the most invincibility for choosing junk-…good food," tripping slightly in his sentence said Gaara, grabbing noodles in his chopsticks and ignoring Naruto's threatening growls at almost insulting his precious _love_.

"That's what makes me curious," loudly thought one of the coworkers catching the three talking. "What exactly do you see Naruto?"

"Huh?!" Naruto looked over the shoulder as if saying he's listening.

Cleaning his hands and mouth from the food, the spiky short brown-haired man elaborated, "I mean you feel things, right? But how can you differentiate them? Meaning… – is there anything you see with those eyes covered or uncovered?" as carefully as he could he asked, trying not to sound offensive.

"As you approximately said yourself – I can see things only through feeling them. The sort of radiation that you reproduce." replied the blond while playing with the hot food in the cup, "I can't see shapes, sizes or any sights of a blur if I take the blindfold off. I don't see a dam thing in fact. But the radiation or as much as a touch of warmth, cold, hardness or softness mentally gives me the apparent form of an image. Or something like that…" Shrugging smiled Naruto and grabbed some noodles.

"Wah… you must be one wild creature," grinned the brown-haired while the others also interested in conversation nodded in impression.

"Hmm… that _may_be," swallowing noodles grinned the blond – effectively showing off his sharp fangs for the first time.

"WOW!" everyone jumped. "How come I never seen that before?!"

"Are you from Inuzuka clan?" wondered everyone together as they were now all piled up and leaning on the closest table by the window in order to see.

"Mmm… don't know!? Can't quite recall it being that way…" shadowing himself, teased the blond with his mysteriousness whilst turning back to his food.

"What about you, Gaara?"

"Hmm?" ripping his gaze from the slowly filling streets questionably looked the red-head at his companions.

"What clan do you come from?"

'_Like hell I'm telling!' _"Can't speak… – mouth hurts!" replied the bored voice.

"OH COME ON!! Don't leave us in the darkness!!" impatiently whined the men.

"Now-now…" voiced Gennou, telling the others to respect the boys privacy and at the same time covering them, "…let's not poke the nose into other people business." _'I feel like dealing with a bunch of children.'_

After a couple of more teasing and information interrogation questions just for the fun, the others went to their previous tasks while Gennou fidgeted closer to the window and quietly asked the two distantly looking boys,

"So… what did you write in the kinsman section?"

"Ah yes, about that…" cracking his neck to wear off the tired feeling, Naruto said in the nothing-important voice, "…from now on you're our uncle Gramps." he grinned as he heard the man drop his chopsticks.

"…?!… Why?!" very intelligently asked confused Gennou.

"Well… Considering your _wise_ knowledge you apparently have on us that we don't even have the sightless clue how… I don't think it will make your life any harder accepting this one little payba-…err – problem."

"You honestly can't be serious! NO! Stop smirking you can't!! _How_ do you suppose am I going to explain that to the Hokage… let alone my son? They will rip me to pieces for keeping such things as family bonds out of sight! Not to mention even if the whole thing itself is just a fake drama in another drama…"

"You brought it down on yourself," shrugged Naruto.

"And don't worry… we're sure you'll figure a way out," smirked Gaara, finally finishing off his 'quick-food' and tossed it into the trashcan nearby.

'_You evil children… that's not how my fun was supposed to go!' _"Didn't I have anything to say in this whatsoever?!" silently hissed and frowned the old-man not liking to be the one left to the state of the confusion and unawareness this time around; _not_ that he _deserved it_! …Just because he had quite a fun teasing the teens with his mysterious knowledge about them that doesn't mean that they have to get back at him! _'That's just not fair!!'_

"Guess not…" shrugged Naruto and walked off with the already walking away 'brother' leaving the slightly agape old-man behind.

"They did it on purpose…!"

_

* * *

_

"Hey old-man! One more ramen please!!" happily shouted the blond, after Gaara finally gave in and agreed to take him out for more of the _healthy_-junk-food (as Naruto simply puts it against Gaara's given name for ramen – which is _junk-food_).

"Ah, hey young-man! Came back for seconds, huh?!" smiled the pleased same old-man who prepared Naruto's daily food in his real home.

"Well that's why I'm here!" proudly cheered the blond leaning on the counter to wait for the juiciness, while Gaara leaned against the slightly afar wall and waited.

"What it will be now?" asked smiling brown-haired daughter of the chef.

"Miso _special_ of course! Please, make it on the way."

"Coming right up!" loudly announced the chef, very happy for the costumers' likeness of his food and the amount of money he shall receive after that, and began to prepare a large amount of noodles to boil for the petite youngling.

In the meantime Naruto found himself some sort of a rhythm and started swaying his hips while waiting for his _love_ to boil…, that is until some dunce decided to hit him out of the music by grabbing his hips.

"How 'bout _I_ treat you to that ramen, sweetheart?" came a smoothly seductive voice tickling his ear.

Gaara's eyes perked up before narrowing as he spotted a tall man with dark-black, loose, long hair, black-eyes, wearing normal civilian clothes trying to hit on Naruto. He didn't recognize the man, but there was something else that very much made him hate the cocky bastard…

'_Uchiha,' _hissed the red-head as he glared at the print of a fan on the man's black shirt.

Naruto stopped his happy rhythm as he suddenly felt hands on him. Silently he roared in his throat as the taller body came closer to him and shamelessly pressed his groin against his rear. Brushing those sinful hands pass Naruto's waist, he placed them above the counter, steadying himself as he leaned deeper onto the shorter male's body – trapping him between himself and the counter.

Shrinking his neck into his shoulders', Naruto soon formed his frown into a devilish smirk and suddenly leaned back against the strong form behind him. "Mmm… Feeling comfortable?" he purred, giving the man a suspiciously unreadable smile – as Gaara absorbed.

"Yesss… very much so!" seductively whispered the man, trying to lean even deeper and deeper to feel that perfect ass fitting against himself.

Chuckling slight, making the man's desire burn, Naruto breathed out his own hot voice, "Gooood…"

Reaching forward and slowly running his delicate, long fingers over the placed chopsticks in front of him, Naruto made sure the man was watching (a hard gulp of saliva being the perfect proof). Taking the small sticks of wood gently in between his fingers, the mischievous blond started measuring their length – by going up and back down, with each slow move repeating the task before loudly snapping them apart…

…The sudden sound made the black-haired man slightly flinch in lusting excitement whilst imagining those lean digits running over something else – something of his own impressive length.

Dropping one of the chopsticks down, Naruto continued playing with the other one between his tan-fingers. Smirking at the man's felt excitement rushing through his guts, Naruto let out a playful whimper as the said man leaned on his neck and inhale his scent. Turning his head to the side, Naruto allowed the black-haired to see the delicately exposed skin of his neck…

"What's your name, my puppet?" he asked while brushing his lips on the blond's exposed flesh.

"How rude Mr. Darkness," mewed Naruto, playing out a moan, "You should introduce yourself first."

Chuckling at the sweet sounds the blond was giving him, the man licked the slightly visible earlobe from the dark-fabric and whispered, "Shisui."

Giggling lightly, getting the man to shiver, Naruto mewed, "Nice to meet you Shisui," fisting the small stick in his left-hand, he suddenly grinned – shining out his fangs, "I'm Naruto…" and with that said he stabbed the man's left-hand resting on the counter with brute force of the chopstick.

"GHAAAAArr…" screamed Shisui and jerked away from the blond.

For a second Gaara burst out his really surprised laughter, but still managed to catch it at the last time and look away uninterested.

"Oh, I am very sorry!" apologetically mewed Naruto, pushing himself away from the counter and coming to the man in pain. "I thought that you were ramen…"

"If that's how you eat your ramen, my kitten, then I am very confused…" choked out Shisui before groaning at the pierced palm.

Looking ever so innocent and confused, Naruto let out a playful giggle and kneeled in front of the squatting man on the ground. "Here… let me help you." Sweetly suggested the blond and gently took the man's wounded-hand in his.

Melting at the reassuring smile Naruto was giving him, Shisui let the boy take his hand and blinked as he thought he saw the blond suddenly smirk, and before he knew it Naruto squeezed his hand – putting a crushing pressure especially on the wound.

"YAAAOOW…" loudly yelped the black-haired guy and prayed the blond's hand away.

"Oh my…are you alright?" smiling asked Naruto.

'_There's something not quite right with that boy.' _thought whimpering Shisui, but blamed it all on the blindness."NO! I…I mean y-yesss… it's alright, my sweet, I got it," he said trying to be apologetic, otherwise he won't get any of the _fox _today… tonight… or whatever…the point is the bed – be it morning or night.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked with fake concern, tilting his head cutely.

"Oh yeah…" Shisui gasped at the sight of the angel, he didn't know whether the gasp was from pain or utter enjoinment he felt as he imagined the blond doing the naughty…

"Here's your order." suddenly came the voice of cheerful chef, handing Naruto a bag of hot ramen of choice.

Grinning, Naruto bounced to the chef and gratefully chirped a 'thank you'.

Coming then over to the wounded one, Naruto cupped the man's cheek and bent down till their lips were almost brushing. "Thanks for the ramen… Shisui…" he purred and suddenly closed the gap between them and kissed the man, who went wide-eyed and flew all the way out of this world. Letting the black-haired go, Naruto grinned at the very well imaginable expression of the agape man and happily bounced to the awaiting amused red-head, leaving bemused Shisui still frozen.

"…What…?!…" Shisui blinked once he finally came down from the high clouds and tried to focus upon what just happened. Looking about his surroundings, he soon found that the blond angel was gone (with not _today_ or _tonight_), and (for some strange reason) a very pleased chef and his daughter were standing in front of him and rubbing their hands before handing him the bill. Unfortunately for him, ramen _special _contained of eleven large bowls of ramen.

"…?!…?!…WHAAAAAT???!"

_

* * *

_

"You're definitely one twisted being Naruto, it's official." said the red-head carrying a bag full of ramen and walking besides the blond-boy slurping one of those ramens.

"Well soooorry… but I didn't see you helping me when that perverted _fan_ roomed his paws everywhere the sanity allowed him – which apparently he doesn't even have."

"Who the heck is Shisui by the way?" curiously asked Gaara.

"Why in Gods' names are you asking me?" fumed the blond.

"I don't know. You're the usually all knowing one! Especially when it comes to Uchihas. And how ironic it may sound…but I guess you have some sort of a magnet of attraction that lures all of the Uchihas," silently the red-head snickered.

"I hope it wasn't a compliment! Cause I'd be dam if I will see another Uchiha alive. They're all psychos! And trust me – I know! If two of them were just plain wrong, think what would happen if the whole damn clan was alive…" Naruto shuddered at the thought.

Shaking his head in amusement, Gaara looked up ahead of the streets and almost dropped dead… not to mention burst out laughing from the irony of the putrid outcomes that never ceases to leave his 'brother' at peace. "Well brother…then don't try to sense things now, but…" scratching his neck, Gaara didn't know whether to keep laughing or soften in pity for his best-friend…

…And since he heard an effective choking of ramen from his best-friend followed by flying curses through every gasp he took to get some air in between his coughs (signaling him that Naruto sensed what he saw), Gaara decided to do both – laugh and feel 'very' sorry.

"Look here Naruto," chuckled Gaara, "Didn't I tell you that you have a magnet for an Uchiha?!"

Finally, after hitting his lungs clean from the spicy ramen, the agape _fox _stayed still for a second or three…before turning in his heels and silently walking away.

"H-hey… where are you going?"

"To drown myself in the river… Hopefully Poseidon will love me, since the rest of the Gods apparently don't…" the blond teen was ready to cry in the background.

"Oh for the love of mortals… Geez Naruto, give me a break!" roared Gaara as he stormed after the poor teen to stop him from doing something stupid, and away from the living street that led to the ever so loud and full of people Uchiha-estate.

_

* * *

_

After finally catching up with his best-friend and after an hour of spent useless gibberish about how it will all turn out ok, Gaara led them to the other end of Konoha…

"Pinch me! I'm dreaming! This place is crawling with them," grumbled Naruto, _still_, as he ate his third ramen and wished he could kick all Uchihas who highly and mighty passed them. _'Bunch of 'Hn'-ing muters.'_

'_Arrr… this is hopeless!' _"Do you think that others in this place are the same age as we are?!" suddenly loudly wondered the blond, trying to distract himself by thinking about their friends at home.

"Don't know!? But your sensei Kakashi sure seems to be quite young here…, yet the perverted one was just as right…"

"Dimensions are so confusing."

"Aa…"

"Not to mention annoying, unstable, fucked and totally full of shit and-…"

'_AND there he goes again… 'Me-you let's kill father thing'!' _sighing, the red-head stopped listening to the blabbering record till he was smacked to the head,

"… Oi, you stupid brother, why aren't you listening? Anyway, let's go kill father, I'm bored."

Rolling his eyes ever so slowly, Gaara silently said, trying to sound annoyed, "You're acting childish-…"

"Childish or not, I don't give a fuck!" pouted the blond crossing his arms.

"Basically he's not even your real father… so let it go already!" growled the red-head.

"Technically he is… and that's good enough to hate him!"

'_The stubbornness is strong…' _"Aren't you at least happy in the least? You finally have a real relative, a father none the less, and the very first thing you do is go and kill him?! What a heck is up with that?"

"Oh please…, don't act as if you're suddenly a freakin' falling angel from the sky!"

"Na-ru-to!!"

"Forget it! I don't want to hear it!"

"You're as stubborn as a mule!"

"Fuck off! Geez… Why am I even talking to you?! You planed it whole from the beginning. Traveling to the Tea country my foot! Na-ah!! That's it! No more!! That was the last time I will ever listen to you again, you Big Fat Liar!" puffing up his cheeks, Naruto took more noodles within his chopsticks; however before he could even bring his mouth to eat them he was suddenly grabbed by his collar by a large hand…

"Who are you calling fat, Skinny-ass freak? I'M JUST BIG BONES!!"

'_Choji?!' _Naruto was brought aback by a very well known chubby-friend's outburst.

"Oh crap!" cursed the blond as the red-head quickly grabbed him by his wrist and yanked them both away from the already rolling _tank-of-meat-ball_…

…**BoooM…**

…The whole place was destroyed within that one roll…

_

* * *

_

"Sorry about that!" sheepishly laughed big-bone, fourteen-year-old teen at the other two sitting in front of him in the sushi-restaurant. He had long, spiky light-brown hair, spiral like markings on his both cheeks, wearing red clothing with hard-armor around his arms, shoulders, legs and stomach, and red _leaf_-headband on his forehead. "I just don't take lightly people talking about me that way. And when I saw you looking at my direction I thought that you were talking about me!?"

'_Nervous much' _thought Gaara, while Naruto chewed down his now new-new food before lashing out his pleasant grin, "It's ok!" _'As long as I get more free food on your bill because of that event, I don't mind.'_ inwardly Naruto felt delighted. "…I was actually talking about _this_ guy over here if that's what you were wondering," he annoyingly scrunched up his face at the red-head's direction, who merely closed his eyes, clapped the chopsticks together a couple of times before getting himself to eat ( – something normal for once in exchange of Naruto's ramen) which annoyed the blond even more.

The big-bone guy chuckled at the two antics and nodded in understanding. "My name is Akimichi Choji. But please, just call me Choji!" he smiled in greeting.

Sighing, since the red-head seemed to ignore his never-seen stares of 'doom', Naruto turned back to the teen in front and outstretched his hand in greeting. "Naruto," he simply stated with a smile. "And the _red-hood_ here is Gaara," said Naruto nodding towards the teen next to him.

"Hey," emotionlessly stated the red-head opening his eyes for a quick greeting before closing them again to enjoy his food.

Smiling and nodding at both, delighted to get more friends, Choji went back to his own precious food – devouring it till the very last piece.

By the end of the meal Choji wasn't quite delighted anymore, for he had to cry for his money as the blond-boy ate almost everything that's given on the menu… _'Where the Hell is he putting all that?!' _thought Choji as he stared at the skinny girl-like-boy devouring the entire 'restaurant'…

'_Seems we've got ourselves a challenger on the loose.'_

_

* * *

_

The next morning Naruto loudly yawned as he walked plainly to the building yard carrying six long 2x4's on his right-shoulder.

"That sure looks quite heavy for such a small boy to carry, doesn't it?" Stopping with a heavy foot into a halt, Naruto clapped his teeth together to keep himself in order as the annoyance of the voice he wished would just disappear spoke to him from behind.

Forcing up a smile he rather harshly turned around, angling the long logs in hopes to hit the soon-to-be (maybe not so soon if he'll succeed) Hokage in the head as of the accident; However the reflexive man quickly ducked before the heavy-wood could smack him to the head as the boy did the full turn around.

Cursing at his failure and hiding behind the innocence, Naruto twitchingly grinned, "Namikaze-sama!? What a pleasant surprise!" _'I wish I could die!!'_ "What brings you here?"

"It's a beautiful morning today…" smiled Minato as he looked up at the clear-sky, "… thought that I should drop by and see how well you're all doing!?" he said as he looked back at the too-short-for-his-own-good teen. _'Poor kid… I feel sorry for his parents.'_

"Well… as far as you can see we're all quite fine!" _'And we'll be even better if you'll leave…like…NOW!!'_ said the painfully smiling small teen whilst thinking. Forcing a bow, Naruto slowly turned around and headed off, in hopes to get back to work…or simply escape.

"Hmm…" smiling, Minato suddenly placed a gentle hand on the teen's shoulder and started walking along side him, making the gesture tell that he wished for his company to last a little bit longer.

Naruto felt his heart stop and momentarily stopped walking _'… … …' _he tried very-very hard to steady his suddenly rushing breath as the man touched him, _'Oh God… Let go! Let go! Let go! LET GO!!'_

Suddenly Minato let him go as he was greeted by Gennou, "Morning Namikaze-sama!!" came the old-man and reached out to shake the offered hand in greeting.

"How many times must I tell you not to call me that?!" playfully lectured the elder-blond.

Mindless to the two distractively talking men, Naruto inhaled a large amount of needed fresh air as if he was about to flip his insides out. _'That was close!' _thought to himself the slightly sweaty blond as he forced a mass of breaking killer-intent of abnormal chakra back…

_

* * *

_

Reaching the building the builders were currently giving their full attention to, Naruto dropped his pile of carried wood to the rest of formed large pile on the ground. With the help he tied the strong ropes around the equally set woods' both ends and two in the middle. With that done, he then heard the logs slightly contract with each other as they were slowly heaved till the very top of the twenty-meter high building.

Sighing, Naruto walked in the building and ran up the stairs till he was at the very top. There, Gaara and two more men were heaving those heavy logs up. When the pile finally came up, he helped to pull it in.

"You feeling ok?" asked Gaara looking at his 'brother' while cutting the ropes of one end and Naruto the other.

"Apart from _this _and _that_… Yeah! I feel great!" sarcastically replied the blond.

Arching his none-existing brow in question, Gaara watched as Naruto cut the useless ropes tied around the logs with a knife and angrily tugged them out of the way. Shaking his head and deciding to let it pass by, Gaara grabbed one third of the freed pile of logs and carried them to the other two men, who were nailing them down.

"Ok! We've got seconds. Gaara lend a hand here!" After dealing with the first pile of logs, the second was just waiting to be pulled up as one of the other two men on the roof asked Gaara for help in bringing it up.

Grabbing the rope, and on the count of _three_ – Gaara and the other two started pulling the second pile up.

While waiting for the wood to be brought up, Naruto set on the high edge of the building and killed the time by played with the knife in his hands…. Until suddenly, a familiar scent caught his nose right below the building…and ever so slowly a small smirk was formed.

Gaara and the others were just about to do a couple of more forceful pulls to bring the logs up when suddenly a loud noise of falling buckets made them jerk and halt in their doing, and out of curiosity look behind where the sudden sound was made…

…But as soon as the three heads turned to meet a pile of buckets rolling from the fall, they heard a strange sound of something very similar to a rope breaking…. And before the three noticed, they were detached from the balance they were weighing with the heavy-logs and fell backwards as the rope broke completely and the logs fell down.

Quickly regaining from the fall, Gaara pushed himself to sit and looked down at the broken end of the rope, which held a slight incision in it. A shining spark abruptly made him look to the right; a shining metal pierced into the brand-new wall quickly caught his attention. _'A knife?'_

…Then it clicked… _'Na-ru-tooo!!' _inwardly roared Gaara clenching the rope, and turned to see that _innocent_ _fox_.

Feeling his 'brother's' painfully sharp glare, Naruto turned his head to him and innocently voiced, "Opss…"

"HEADS UP!!" shouted one of the builder guys.

Right below… …

Startled at the sudden shout, the pony-tailed Anbu glanced up just in time to see the logs of heavy wood heading straight towards his life…

**BOOOM!** A big crash to the ground raised a huge dust around the whole area and people in there.

"What a Hell happened?!" demanded the Namikaze appearing on the scene with Gennou in toe. "Is everyone alright?! Where's It-…" before he could finish his worry, an ebony-haired Anbu with loose pony-tail jumped right next to him.

Growling low in his throat, the _pony-tailed _glared at the pile of broken material he surprisingly managed to dodge at the very last moment, and forced his blazing eyes upwards to see a waving blind-boy sheepishly scratching his neck…

"You…" hissed the deep and angered voice.

"Sorry Anbu-san! I didn't plan for it to mis-errr… I mean, are you alright?" apologetically smiled the blond.

The _Sharingan _user was practically boiling on the inside, trying very hard to calm the sudden 'urges'…

"You see there was this bee flying and…" and so Naruto went on-and-on with his best and most effective gift for a talent – lying.

_

* * *

_

That day accidents followed one-by-over hundred others… and strangely enough they all seemed to absorb over a certain _junior-_Hokage and ebony-haired Anbu…!?…

'_That sure as Hell was a long day. And no success so far,' _grumbled Naruto, wondering whether the luck was following his 'father' and _former_-enemy's steps or was he simply losing his touch?!

Walking into the structure and reaching the storage-room, Naruto placed the equipment tools in it, kicked the doors then with his leg close and placed some scrolls and papers on the table standing next to it. Putting a hammer above the papers he prevented the wind (coming from the empty holes for windows) to blow them away at night.

Clapping his hands to dust them away (succeeding an echo), he tiredly sighed and stretched his muscles out, all the way hearing small noises of other workers packing for the day and livid crickets on the outside making their presence known at night.

"Well, no use feeling unlucky… there's always tomorrow," proudly smirked the blond.

"Now why would you feel unlucky?" suddenly came the hated voice, making Naruto jump as he didn't sense the man approach, which angered him very much.

"Namikaze-sama…" he turned and greeted the man by forcefully making his head tilt (even if just a little).

"Let's skip the formalities. Please, call me Minato!" interrupting, kindly smiled the _junior_-Hokage.

"Ok… Mi-na-to!" _'You bastard!!' _"…Umm… nothing, I was just remembering the events that _kind of_ all happened through the day considering my _carelessness_." innocently smiled the small blond. _'Damn my lips hurt!'_

Chuckling at the apologetically looking boy, Minato shook his head, "It's the construction's usual risk, there are always bond to be sudden accidents. There's no need to feel sorry, Naruto!"

'_Yes there is! All attempts failed!! Geez…and I was so close too.'_

"Anyway, I must say that by so far I am very impressed and pleased." praised Minato, "You and your brother are really giving a lot of effort in this work… And your physical skills, well I must say – are beyond anything I have ever seen."

"Thank you! I appreciate it!" gratitude must always be expressed, no matter how much you hate the person who's giving you that.

Smiling at the teen as he bowed, Minato took some time to look him over.

Slightly fidgeting, Naruto desperately tried to show that he was uncomfortable … _'Stop staring! Or say goodbye to your eye!!'_

"Did you ever consider to become a ninja, Naruto?" suddenly asked the elder one.

'_Ok…what brought that out?' _"No! They're all murderers! All they ever bring is pain and more unwanted suffering. Killing people, families, friends… Becoming the unstoppable machines of lust for more blood and no emotions what-so-ever… Why would I want to become a tool?" abruptly exclaimed Naruto before he could stop himself.

Minato's eyes slightly widened at the venom the boy used when he dirtied the name of the 'shinobi'.

"Now why would you think so poorly of ninjas?" he curiously asked.

"Why?! Isn't it true?" almost demandingly dared the boy to say otherwise.

"…" frowning slightly, Minato allowed the silence to fill the suddenly thick air. "The way of ninja ruined your life… didn't it?" he finally asked, thinking that maybe the boy lost his family because of that.

'_Well braaavo… Look how smart you are!' _"Maybe…," whispered Naruto crossing his arms and turning his head to the side, while leaning against the table behind.

Smiling in sympathy, Minato came to lean against the table next to Naruto's right, mindless to the way the blond flinched as he slightly brushed his arm by the shoulder.

"It is true that we are killers Naruto… figuratively speaking. But you must not think of that as a way to _produce_ killers. We ninja fight to protect the ones we love and cherish. We make our own path. And only in battlefields must we not show our emotions…for it blinds us. We must always stand by those who are the weakest… – it is our foremost priority to protect those in need… it's our duty."

"Even if you must go against your own family?" mumbled Naruto under his breath.

"Excuse me?!"

"May I ask you a question Minato-sama?" abruptly asked the blond, distracting him from the previous statement.

Arching his brow at that same unplumbed statement, Minato scratch it out of his mind and smiled. "Sure!"

"Do you love this village?"

'_Funny question.'_ "Yes, I do."

"And as the future Hokage… would you put the safety of your village above _everything_ that's important to you?"

"…?!…" _'I don't understand! Is he thinking if I would sacrifice my life in order to protect my home and people I love there?' _"Yes, I would," quietly replied the _junior-_Hokage, thinking then that the boy's slowly formed small smile was a good thing.

'_Nothing changes…' _inwardly Naruto lowered his head, taking his 'father's' words as a completely different meaning. _'…how could I even dare think that for a second he would be different!?'_

"You're gonna be a great Hokage…," sadly smiled Naruto, nodding his head as if agreeing, _'…that's why you will never be my father… Minato.'_

Minato frowned, as he spotted Naruto's smile fidget between different emotions, before he smirked as he thought of something to playfully contradict the boy about, _'Maybe get a good reaction out of it!?'_ "May _I_ ask you a question, Naruto?"

"You may…"

"Who is your most precious person?" he asked pointedly.

"… …Gaara."

'_Just as thought.' _smiled Minato, "And what would you do to ever keep him safe?"

"Everything," momentarily answered the boy, making the elder crossed his arms with a smug look forming on his face.

"Would you kill for him?"

"I would."

"And would that not make you a murderer?" his smile widened as he saw Naruto slightly grit his teeth.

"It would."

"And want does murderer refer in your directory?!"

"…a ninja…"

"There you have it!"

'_I hate you so much!'_

"See. It's all the same! We protect our precious people Naruto…and there is no harm in doing that, is there?"

'_AARRrrgh…' _"No…," hissed Naruto in agreement, making Minato burst laughing at his cute pout.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?!" scowled, pouted and growled Naruto all together while Minato just continued laughing.

"You got me!" defeated smiled Minato and smacked Naruto playfully on the back that made the boy almost fall to the floor. _'I'm kind a starting to like that boy… I just don't know why?!'_

'_He hit me!!' _inwardly froze Naruto,_ 'You hit me! That's it! You're dead-meat!' _

"Ahh…, that sure was a break I needed!" pleased exclaimed Minato while whipping away his laugh and standing up to stretch out. "Well, as much as I would like to stay here longer and talk to you Naruto, I feel sorry to say that I still have some duties to attend to right now."

"Well don't let me keep you waiting then," twitched the smiling blond, whilst searching for something behind his back.

"Aa… I hope to see you soon again! Have a good night, Naruto!" smiled Minato and turned to leave.

"Heh-heh…" twitchingly laughed Naruto and grabbed a hammer from behind him, "Yeah… you too!" he smirked and reached out to hit the man on the head…

Minato didn't get far as he suddenly heard a loud crash from behind him followed by a slam of the door…or something like that; and he turned around to see Naruto nowhere in sight.

"Huh?! Where'd he go?" blinked the elder-blond…

…While right behind the closed door of the storage-room, Gaara was pinning his best-friend to the floor with one hand covering the _loudmouth's _mouth and the other holding two tan-hands (still holding the hammer in them) pinned above his head, all the way listening till the Namikaze's steps slowly faded away…

…Sighing as the man left, Gaara looked down and glared at his finally calmed 'brother' silently breathing in and out through his nose. Uncovered his mouth yet still keeping the hands in place, he hissed, "You're gonna be the death of us!"

"I will definitely be the death of you if you will ever get in my way again!" threateningly hiss the blond back just as his best-friend.

Frowning deep, Gaara suddenly kicked the hammer out of Naruto's hands and grabbed him by the collar – pulling him up only to slam him harshly back down. "Listen brother!" he growling in his face, "If I will ever catch you displaying such a nonsensical act ever again, I won't hesitate to stab a point where you won't be able to get up for a very long-long time!"

Gritting his sharp teeth at the threat, Naruto abruptly wriggled his right-leg out and pushed Gaara up by kicking him to the stomach…

Since the room wasn't that big, Gaara was pushed up straight to hit his back against the closed-door with a loud 'thud'…

Clenching his eyes at the slight pain, Gaara hissed as the blond grabbed his collar and pulled him forward only to slam him back against the door (much harder though) just like he did to him on the floor. "You have no idea, Gaara… You have _no_ idea how does it feel!" hissed the blond. "Yes! You might have had a demon inside of you just like me! You might be just like me and know the true meaning of hurt that solitude brings! But the pain…the _real_ pain that I felt and experienced my whole freakin' life can never be imagined by the eyes of a man…even yours. And you know what?! I am feeling it right now… AGAIN!! I feel it in my fucking gut!! It's driving me insane! I can't take it!! I want to be free, Gaara! …I want to free myself…my life… my soul. I want to fuckin' live! …And upon seeing _that_ man, who ruined my entire existence, still ALIVE, won't make that pain go away…ever!" by the end of the statement, Gaara wordlessly watched as Naruto shook from anger and deep-deep pain.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…" finally regaining his composure, Naruto loosened his grip on the silent teen and lowered him back to his feet, finally letting go. Stepping a couple of steps back, Naruto's knees buckled and he slid to the floor.

"Why…? Why are you always stopping me Gaara?" whispered Naruto more to himself.

Slowly blinking at the saddened teen, Gaara stepped forward and knelt next to him, gathering the slightly broken blond in his arms.

"Because even if I would allow you to do it… I know you would never forgive yourself afterwards. You may not understand it now, but please… believe me before it will be too late!" calmly soothe and reasoned Gaara, resting his chin on the blond's shoulder while he played with the loose, slightly bushy end of Naruto's long braid.

"Just like with your father?" quietly thought Naruto, resting his forehead on the red-head's shoulder.

"Yes…, just like with my father," replied Gaara burying his face in the blond's neck as he flinched at the painful memories he dealt with his entire life after killing his father… – No matter how ruthless he was, a small part very much still loved him.

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_Well that sure was interesting to write! Kind a weird but…whatever!?_

_Later ;))_

* * *


	10. Chapter 10

* * *

'_**Chapter 10'**_

* * *

"I'm not gonna do it!"

"You're such a rock – boring, emotional and stupid! Come on! It'll be fun!"

"Maybe for you… But that is definitely not how I was picturing _my_ free time out from work, you little Satan!"

"Geez Mr. Sensitive, I can only imagine you having your days off… playing in the sandbox for example?!"

"That was definitely offensive."

"And I am proud to say I'm pleased!"

"Wipe that grin off your face, or I'll do it for you!"

"Well then…let's not make it go to waste then."

"What are you-…?! No… Don't you dare!! No…Let go!! No…No – NO!!! NARUTOOO!!!" was Gaara's _really _energetic protest as Naruto grabbed his wrist and rushed them both off of the fifty-meter high cliff which held a beautiful, deep lake below.

"YAAAAAAAAAaaaaahhh…"

**SPLASSSH…**

"Ghaaahh…" reaching the surface, Gaara gasped and coughed for precious air while desperately trying to calm his shaking nerves from the dreadful shock he just went through.

A seconds later Naruto came to the surface, grinning like mad and having a slight shiver himself – however for a different reason,

"That was so cooool…" cheered Naruto brushing the water out of his blooded-eyes, "Let's do it again!!"

"NO!!"

* * *

Walking through the forest with loose hair and nothing but pants on, holding the wet boxers and tank-top over the right-shoulder, Naruto grinned as he still held the stimulant feeling of rushing adrenalin in his guts after that jump… while Gaara still held little shivers of near death-experience. _'Thank God I'm alive!'_

Finally reaching the gates, both made their way back to their house. Since the all too certain blond _suddenly_ decided to be out of his mind and wake the poor red-head up ((_'TOO EARLY IN THE BLOODY MORNING…AAAND – ONE THE DAY OFF!!' _roared Gaara)) just to go for a swim, the streets were very empty of people who would doubtless stare at them till the blood-loss. So it was quite peaceful and at some point pleasant to walk down the empty streets…

… However, not for long did it all last, for youthfulness never awaits,

"ALLLlllright!! We just took about five hundred laps around the Leaf-village…, now let us sweat our youthful spirits by taking about a hundred more…" shouted an energetic voice of the known green-spandex wearing tall man with unmistakably big-brows and bowl-cut haircut slowly running along the streets with the smaller form of himself by his side joyfully screaming in return,

"Yes!! Gai-sensei!"

"Let the sun rise and bless our bodies with its warmth of never ending joy!"

"Yes!! Gai-sensei!"

"Ah, good morning ladies!" the man by the name of Gai greeted the two teens standing by the street as he run pass them with the _mini_-him shinning out his grin and giving the thumbs up at the two.

"…" standing still, Gaara's eye twitched as he watched the _green-beasts _run by and out of their sight.

"…" whilst Naruto just stood there with throbbing vein, till it finally popped, "IS HE FUCKIN' BLIND?!" roared Naruto to the whole street, "I MEAN COME ON! I'M WEARING NO GOD-DAMN SHIRT! I'M A MAN DAMN IT!! …?!…?!…am I?!" Naruto abruptly froze before he freaked out and started rooming his hands all over his body – frightened if maybe by some _very_ twisted way he's turning into a girl by the second. _'Oh my God! It could be possible. With this nightmare for a dimension anything could happen!! Ok, where are you…?!? WHERE ARE YOU …?!?'_

"Pfew… still there…" relieved sighed Naruto and brought his hand out of his pants.

Rolling his eyes, still annoyed with this morning, Gaara grabbed Naruto by the elbow and dragged him away before he suddenly decides to put the _spandex_ into his list-to-kill-men (if there is any place left that is… And it's not that he minded – he himself was there and would be glad to offer his position to the _greens'_ as a 'generous' offer, _'Now there's an idea.'_).

* * *

Kicking the doors open so it hit the wall, slightly shaking the house, the grouchy red-head walked in and headed to the stairs (that were about two meters from the entrance and positioned right in the middle of the lobby).

"Wow, Gaara… careful, you could've destroyed the whole house," amused lectured the blond as he closed the cracked wooden door. _'Have to fix it later.'_

Growling in respond, Gaara screwed up his face while awkwardly taking off the soaked-wet shirt, shivering at the slight breeze that hit his body. _'I feel like a rat!'_ Apparently since he decided to refuse to get in the water or say – jump to face his death –, Naruto of course, determined as hell, still managed things his way.

"Think of that as a payback," hitting the red-head out of his thoughts, grinned Naruto walking behind the grouchy red-head.

Turning to glare at the annoyingly grinning _midget_, Gaara scowled and threw the wet shirt into Naruto's face…

"Uufff… eww… it's we- e-e-…oh crap…" slightly losing his balance poor Naruto would've had steadied himself if the sinful wet-shirt wouldn't have fallen between his legs and made him slip on it and go falling off the stairs… …but unfortunately it did.

Such a painful fall it was… or say – it would've been like that if by some very _unexpected_ and _unpredictable_ way, Naruto's day wouldn't have just been made…

…when a _particular_ Anbu with _strangely_ familiar pony-tail behind his back _suddenly_ decided to make his grand appearance just by the time a _particular_ blond decided to go and fell of the stairs (…such a cliché…).

And as of the result for winning the first prize at his awesomeness – the _pony-tailed_ received the falling angel-…_DEMON_ – screamed the same _pony-tailed_ –, in his arms.

'_Pfew… that was close…' _sighing in relief, as Naruto felt himself being caught and held by the upper-arms, he slightly turned his face to thank his saviour… "Thank yo-…!?what a?!…" – _'GHAAAAA… ITACHIII?!'_ –that is until the scent of his _saviour_ hit his nose to the punch and the mind grew depth at the inner screams –_ 'NOOOOOOO!! WHYYY?!' _Shutting himself up, Naruto abruptly froze as he felt something really strange and unnerving happening_ '…?! …!? … Hey! WOW! Wait a minute!! What do you think you're doing?? WHY ARE YOU BRINGING ME EVEN CLOSER?? NO, GO AWAY!!'_

Gaara blinked as he watched the confused blond suddenly pail and the quiet raven stare down at him while mindlessly hold him closer to his body. _'Well would you look at that?! I guess the butterfly finally fell into the claws of the spider's charms… I sense the sparks! God, I feel like a fuckin' poet…' _grinned the red-head amusing himself before he couldn't hold Naruto's expression any longer and, mainly surprising himself, burst laughing.

The Anbu blinked behind his mask as he finally regained from his _very_ suddenly blocked thoughts (of God knows what) and finally come to the realization that he's holding that damn devil that nearly killed him thirty-nine times (…and no doubt still counting…).

'_Of all the people to land on me today…such a pain…And I thought that mornings are annoying enough… …Huh?! What a heck is that?' _the Uchiha's thoughts trailed as he spotted a weird tattoo-like-markings around the boy's stomach's sides and curiously tried to get a better look by bringing the teen closer…

Hearing strange noises downstairs, Gennou yawned, still in his pajamas, walked out of his room and went down the stairs. Mindlessly passing the laughing red-head (who was sank into the stairs clenching his stomach and holding his mouth shut from the hysteric outburst), he yawned again and, spotting a blurry form of a newcomer, quickly formed a smile for greeting, "Good morning! How may we be of assis…-tance…?!" he began yet cut himself at the end when he adjusted his glasses and caught the sight of a fuming and very brightly blushing blond being securely held by an afar and so out-of-place right now looking Itachi (as he recognized him), who apparently didn't even know he's here. _'Must be too deeply lost while thinking how to court Naruto…'_

By the silent moment only then did he adjust a strange sound of forcefully held back laughter coming from the stair direction; looking over his shoulder, Gennou arched a brow at the usually silent red-head, "Is he inebriated?!"

Scratching his head at the twisted morning, he turned back and decided to break the awkward tension by audibly coughing, "Khe-khem!"

Jumping at the sudden voice, the Uchiha quickly looked up, cursing himself at his unusual behavior, and professionally cowered all of the unnecessary stammering that might come out by composing himself and speaking in a somewhat bored tone, "Yes, good morning Gennou-san! I am here to inform you that Namikaze-sama wishes to see you, right away."

"Oh? Did he say why?"

"No…"

"Aa… Very well then. I'll be right there!" smiled the old-man and was about to turn when a small, playful smirk found its way up. "You know… I think you might like to let him go now! For some people might sense a… …_spark_," teased the old-man at the confused for a moment looking Anbu, making the red-head on the stairs laugh even harder.

'_I'll kill you, you old-fart!' _growled the blond at his not-too-recently-doomed-to-be 'uncle', and the laughing 'best-for-a-friend' was definitely not making the situation any batter.

'_Huh… What?! …?! …?! …Urgh…'_ finally catching what the old-man meant, Itachi couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed as he couldn't _believe_ that the boy he held in his hands felt so utterly warm, comfortable and… right!?! …that he could simply forget. _'That little devil…' _sighing in irritation, Itachi rolled his eyes…

'_HEY! Don't even dare roll you're 'spectacles' at me you dam-…OH NO!' _inwardly growled the blond before he abruptly felt Itachi let him go and he fall to the floor. "GHA…" Naruto managed to say before he landed on his back with a thud.

"Carefully, Naruto-kun," said the pony-tailed Anbu before disappearing the same way that he appeared.

"Argh…I swear he was laughing before he left…" hissed Naruto under his breath, mindless to the other still sleepy, slightly dazed and just waking man coming downstairs to check what the whole ruckus was about and voicing out a small 'what' for a question.

Depth and swollen by the anger, Naruto gritted his teeth, "Why I oughta…" the blond suddenly roared and punched the floor… which in process cracked around the confused and shocked men, and as they all shared a look the wood crumbled beneath their feet and brought them to the basement as the blond destroyed the whole damn floor on the lobby.

"AAaahh…" screamed the men as they all fell and crushed to the basement.

Startled at the screams, Naruto perked up with a "Huh?!" sitting on the remaining, still holding pieces of the once-was-floor.

"NARUTOOO!!"

"YOU KILLED THE FLOOR!"

"AGAIN!!" Roared the pile of squirming coworkers from the basement… And the laughing red-head up the stairs _still_ wasn't helping…

_

* * *

_

Took awhile…, but at the end of the morning they managed to fix the floor to the perfection. After a clean shower all of the exhausted workers gathered in the main living room and plopped down on everything availably soft for some refreshing drinks and well deserved rest.

"Aaah… that sure was a good workout," stretching out came a grinning blond with a glass of drink in the room and rather awkwardly jumped next to his 'brother' resting on the couch, who in turn gave him a strange look.

"Speak for yourself!" growled the pouting workers.

"What?!" asked innocently confused Naruto, receiving more growls in return. "Oh come on! Was it that bad to have a little of the extra work on your holiday? …?! …?! …?! Why? What? What's with all the growling?" Just when the workers were about to go and strangle the blond…

…there was suddenly a loud scream from a girl outside the streets which was followed by a major clamour of rushing footsteps (as if an earthquake was taking place).

Blinking, reluctantly all workers stood up from their comfortable seats and walked out of the house to the front-yard only to blink again and stare as a bunch of girls run pass – screaming and shouting from…joy?! Something about 'Gods' and 'he's here' or 'he's back'…

"Okaaay… that was weird…"

"What's going on?!" curious as well came out Gennou to stand behind the small group of men scratching their heads with quiet questions themselves staring at the far off forming pile of people nearing the gates.

"Parade?!" someone of the curious men looked at the others for confrontation and shrugged before walking off to the place the said 'parade' was taking effect.

"Aaa…, who cares!? Probably some lord coming to town…" whiles some other men also in a small group dismissingly waved their hands to the rest and walked to the opposite direction to go and have a little excursion downtown (since they already stood up – might as well go and have a little chatting walk to the bar).

"Or maybe somebody crawled through the gates and died?!" came the blond blind-boy voicing out his own intelligent opinion before abruptly bursting out laughing for no particular reason. Leaning against the door for support, Naruto kept laughing, almost dropping a glass of his drink, while the rest of the left men on the yard exchanged amused glances.

"You have some really twisted way of thinking," said cross-armed Gaara coming to stand by his 'insane-turning' best-friend.

"Aww, why thank you!" replied the grinning whiskered-boy with slightly flushed cheeks, "I learned from the best… yes, that meaning _you_."

"I'm pleassssed!" sarcastically exclaimed the red-head, rolling his eyes upwards to growl at the blue sky (or say – Gods) for giving him such a _nut_ for a brother.

"Naa, your welcome!" grinned Naruto and abruptly let out a loud hiccup, startling the red-head out of his complains.

"What a Hell are you drinking?!" scowling asked Gaara reaching closer to look into the glass in his 'brother's' hand.

"Whaaa… go away!" wobbly stood up the blond from the floor he managed to sink into while laughing, and hugged the glass away from the curious eyes. "That's _my _freshly squeezed, none conserved, 100percent natural in nature orange-juice! Get your own!" he pouted and hiccupped again.

"Geez Naruto! If I would have to guess I'd say you're drunk," laughed Gennou's son, passing him and walking back into the house with his father and the rest still amused coworkers following.

Puffing his cheeks, Naruto suddenly burst laughing, again, "Yeahhh… I am!!" he happily chirped.

"…" Gaara's eyes widened.

"… I MEAN NO!" shutting his mouth up suddenly nervous corrected Naruto, turning to face his 'brother', hiding the glass behind his back and hiccupping again.

"You're… drunk…?" calmly…much too calmly asked Gaara, clenched his right-hand's _angry_ fist that craved for a pretty face right now.

"Err… no?!" inwardly wondering himself (for he didn't know anymore), Naruto swallowed the fourth hiccup and tried to innocently smile while stepping away from the doors and out on the yard – to get as far away from the dangerously close standing red-head as he could.

"Naruto…" hissing, Gaara slowly took a step towards the nervously grinning and slightly sweaty blond, who was slowly mirroring his movements to the opposite and stepping back from the advancing red-head. "If that is 'sake' what I sense right now-…"

"Wh-who gave you that idea… h-ha-hahahaha…" turning his right-hand holding the glass behind his back downwards – spilling the liquid out on the grass –, Naruto brought out his both hands with empty glass in one and showed them to his 'brother'. "S-see… none…" the glass abruptly slipped threw his fingers as he hiccupped again.

Gaara didn't even halt to blink…yet threatening he sure did continue to do, "…-then I will…" hardening his jaw, Gaara clenched his now both fists tighter, making the crack of knuckles be heard and Naruto gulp down his soul.

"Um…umm…ummm…?!?…" stopping to awkwardly scratch his neck for good two seconds, Naruto abruptly turned around and dashed off.

"That's it!! NARUTO!! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!!!" unleashed, the red-head stormed after.

"OH COME ON! I HAD ENOUGH TWISTED EVENTS FOR THE PAST WEEK, GIVE ME A BREAK!" shouted back the blond as he ran away from the overly protective (at this moment maybe not so protective anymore) redheaded-demon chasing him.

'_Oh God! I'm gonna die! I'm gonna die!' _inwardly cried Naruto, knowing that Gaara will definitely beat him, since he, apparently, still didn't forgave him for the day when he first got drunk and ended up singing and stripping himself above the Fourth-Hokage's head on the mountain (back in their real home). That day the entire popularity of the whole Konoha was nearly doomed to the extinction (mainly the perverted men called shinobi) as Gaara went on a 'protective rampage'.

'_There! I will lose him right there!' _sharply turning on the corner, Naruto jumped from joy at the opened advantage off getting his 'brother' of his tail… that is before suddenly something very heavy jumped right on him – something soft, furry and driveling.

"Oh man…, down Akamaru! Down boy!" rushing off footsteps was heard, followed by a loud orders of a teenager's voice directed to the fluffy thing that was growling, roaring and braking at Naruto, who was pressed down to the ground on his back.

"What's wrong? I said DOWN Akamaru!!" the teen's yells rose up.

'_Kiba?' _Naruto mentally wondered at the voice as he felt a huge, aggressive mutt (he recognized to be the same old Akamaru) being lifted off of him.

"Sorry ma'am… I mean man… I mean…umm…?!"

'_Oh shut up already!' _inwardly grumbled Naruto hearing his dimensionally parallel friend having a hard time figuring out his gender. Standing up, he dusted off his black-pants and orange-shirt before saying, "Naruto." The blond introduced himself, cutting the confused teen out off his guesses by simply stating the name of a male, and gave a friendly grin which was gladly returned after a long-long pause.

"Kiba," finally grinned the taller teen with crimson fang marks on his cheeks and sharp two canines for teeth – giving him the title of Inuzuka.

"Nice to meet you!" _'…after so long…' _smiled Naruto.

'_Well I'll be damn.' _Blinked Kiba, as he absorbed the beautiful boy, _'I could ravish him on the spot…' _he thought with a small smirk before he was disturbed by a small cough coming from behind him. Looking over his shoulder at his nosy friends, Kiba silently sighed, _'I kind a forgot they were here.' _turning back to the blond, Kiba gave a friendly smile before starting the acquaintance…

Finally catching with the sprinting blond, Gaara turned around the corner and came to a halt. Blinking at the scene, he silently cursed at his 'brother's' luck and pulled his hands into the pockets while calmly advanced a small group of five people and a big, hairy, white dog – all standing in front of Naruto and going through the acquaintance (or rather re-acquaintance).

Sensing the presence of another one, Akamaru stopped clenched his teeth at the blond and snarled as he leaped for the second attack… yet forgot that Kiba held him by the collar and was forcefully yanked back, "Damn it Akamaru! What's gotten into you?!" hissed the irritated looking Inuzuka boy at his dog, who continued to growl, claw and try to get to the newly advancing teen. _'As appealingly distractive they might be…it appears there is something wrong with these two,' _inwardly Kiba's thoughts were showing off a completely different position. Spotting the similarities of the two unknown teens and the combined hate his most trustful friend was giving them, Kiba wondered, _'What did you found out, Akamaru?'_

Gaara frowned at the dog's behavior, _'The dog senses too much suspicion… Better leave…'_ stopping by Naruto's side, Gaara kept staring into the dog's eyes that blazed with sharpness, anger, warning and something similar to a challenge.

Akamaru let out a loud roar and suddenly pushed Kiba out of the way, lunching himself at the teens… however he didn't get far as the rest of the group by Kiba's side intervened and grabbed at the dog.

Naruto's expression mentally hardened while Gaara, seeing Kiba and the rest of the teens busily restraining the huge and uncontrollable mutt, took matters into his own hands. Slowly closing his eyes, Gaara silently inhaled before reopening them and locking with Akamaru's. A small sparkle shone through his dark-greens making the dog suddenly quiet-down and shrunk under the hard gaze. Trembling with abrupt fear that went through his backbone, Akamaru stopped his resistance and obediently lay down.

"There…" tiredly exhaled Kiba, petting the finally calmed and silent dog's head. Others quietly sighed and straightened up.

"He sure is a nice dog," smiling said the blond, trying to break the tension by starting with a playful sarcasm.

"Umm… I am really sorry about that," apologetically said the brown-haired boy, "Usually he's very calm, friendly and playful."

"Don't sweat it! We are used to the knowledge that animals don't like us very much." Smiled Naruto, yet he already understood that Kiba was now playing the _kind-ignorant_ with them; the brown-haired teens doubts were well hidden, yet it was useless when it came to 'brothers'' attention.

"I guess I can tell now," grinned Kiba but mentally he narrowed his eyes with faithlessness. "So…" standing up from his crouching position, Kiba coughed and scratched his neck for a better show of the poor-_ignorant_, and glanced at the newcomer. "I take it this here is your friend?!"

Ripping his gaze away from the now silenced dog, Gaara looked up at the black, slit-like eyed teen who just spoke.

"Yes…, actually this is my brother Gaara!" grinned Naruto circling his arm around the indifferent and emotionless red-head's shoulder. "Gaara! These here are Kiba, his _lovely _dog Akamaru…" he smirked hearing the dog quietly grit his teeth with a low roar skipping between them. _'He still holds confidence,'_ mentally frowned Naruto before continuing with introductions: "…Hinata…" he gestured towards the lavender-eyed, long, purple-haired Hyuuga girl who blushed as the attention was fixed on her, "…Neji…" the long, dark-brown haired Hyuuga boy gave a faint 'Hn' of acknowledgment, "…Tenten…" the girl with two dark-brown, tight buns on top of her head gave a warm, slightly blushing smile and waved her hand, "…and Shino…" the hooded teen with dark-glasses merely nodded in greeting.

"Delighted!" was all that they got from the silent red-head. Skipping a quick glance at the dog, Gaara then addressed his best-friend. "Naruto, unfortunately we must be going now! We are needed of assistance for Gennou." he spoke with somewhat serious tone.

Smirking in his mind at the red-head's way of getting out of here before the needless mess is raised any farther, Naruto turned his head to the group and kindly smiled at them, "Well…it was a real pleasure meeting you all! Hope we'll see each other again sometime!?"

"We'll definitely meet!" _'Be sure of that!'_ grinned Kiba watching as the two turned around and left.

Losing then his smile as if it was never there, Kiba kneeled next to his dog and placed his hand on top of the furry head, asking, "What's the matter boy? Did you find something strange about those guys?"

The dog looked at his master with tired expression and then lowered his head back down and closed his eyes.

Kiba narrowed his highly arched brown-brows at the dog's behavior. _'What a Hell is going on?!'_

"What did he say?" asked the slightly demanding voice of one Hyuuga Neji.

"He said there is _nothing_ wrong…"

"Then why are you so concerned all of a sudden?" asked Shino.

"Akamaru behaved very strangely for a moment back there…didn't you all noticed?"

"Yes…, but my bugs would have said something about the two teens… there is nothing wrong with them," said Shino, a bit surprised at his friend.

"Hmm…" looking up from the lying dog on the ground, Neji activated his _Byakugan _and went for a search of the two teens. Spotting them on the other side of the house he stayed by, he carefully went through their system… and finally after some time closed the lids.

"So?!" questionably asked Tenten addressing the Hyuuga boy.

"Nothing… plain teens with no capabilities at hand. Besides, the level of their chakra is only at the stage of a high Gennin, there should be nothing to be worried about."

"It really was a long mission today Kiba… A-Akamaru's probably exhausted!?" thought shy Hinata, looking down at the furry comrade in sympathy.

"Yeah, probably…" repeated Kiba with fogged and unfocussed look in his mistrustful eyes. _'…not.'_

_

* * *

_

"A close call…" sighed the blond, walking down the heated (eyeful staring) crowded streets beside his best-friend.

"Should be nothing of the trouble. In the end, most of them were oblivious. And on top of that – I made sure the dog will forget everything that happened for the past twenty-four hours."

"Harsh…"

"Better than nothing." shrugged Gaara.

"I just hope it will get for the better from now," silently wished Naruto; he was so tired of all this.

"Don't count your chickens yet," Gaara scowled as he sharply looked at his 'brother'.

"You're still at it? 'Hmph'… Mothering is definitely not your style," pouted Naruto, crossing his arms and turning his head away.

"Well we'll just have to make it my style, you ungrateful _child_! Feel lucky that I caught you before you went really loaded."

"Urgh… I needed to get my mind off! It's even worse than a nightmare here. …And besides, I only drank one third of the bottle this tim-…"

"THIS TIME?!"

"I _reaaallly _hate myself!" cried Naruto at his big-mouth and began to run away as the red-head made a grab for him.

"Tsk…" annoyed Gaara narrowed his eyes at the escaping _prisoner_ running off.

"Don't even think about it Gaaraaa, there's nothing you can dooo," joyfully sang Naruto, confident that Gaara won't dare use any of the Ninjutsu on him to prevent his clear escape… too many eyes are around.

"Hn," straightening up Gaara brought his hand up and clicked his fingers.

As Naruto ran he failed to notice the summoned sand form a little bump on the ground which he of course tripped on and fell onto his face, "GhAA! …OOFff…"

Smirking, Gaara crossed his arms and slowly walked over to tower above the unlucky _fox_. "You were saying?!"

"I forgot about the sand…" grumbled Naruto in the dirt.

Bending down to help Naruto up, Gaara abruptly stopped as bickering noises of laughing females were heard advancing right towards them.

"How stupid can you get?!" laughed a bunch of 5,5feet tall girls stopping in front of the two 'brothers'.

"Who's that?" asked Gaara, kneeling next to his 'brother'.

"No idea," replied Naruto, trying to block his nose from the strong perfume of five girls. _'That could simply kill a dog… AAaa, forget about a dog! I am dying right now!' _he scratching his itchy nose that burned from the boring flowers and mixed chemicals.

"Hn! So… apparently these are the _rats_ that are stealing the town's popularity around here!?" spoke a girl with dark-red, middle-long and slightly-spiky hair; wearing stylish glasses, neck sleeved white shirt that was cut at the hem and showing off her bellybutton; dark-brown, very-short shorts and thigh long matching boots.

"What a heck are they talking about?" standing up frowned Naruto.

"Oh my God. I can't believe the taste. And they're so short too…" thought the one with long, black hair fixed in a small clip at the very end with rest of the girls nodding at the criticism.

"I don't know, I think they look cute… don't you Karin!?" the other two of the girls stand out while looking at their supposedly 'leader'.

"Pffe…, these two brats? God forbid! What use would there be of such weaklings?! Just look at them – even the chakra doesn't reach the heights of a Chunnin. And I can tell," a dark-redheaded girl by the name of Karin spoke with smug and all knowing tone.

"Yeah, you're right," quickly agreed the apparent _ass-kissing_ girls.

"That idiot Jiroubo! Staying here for almost an entire month and all he has to inform us at our arrival is…_this_?!" the shortest of the girls with dark-orange, slightly long, spiky hair with one long bang covering her nose snorted tossing a distasteful look at the 'brothers', who merely stood there with arched brows as if considering upon the title on the village's newest bitch-group…

"Point there, Tayuya! Heh… and check it out!" the black-haired abruptly perked with amusement, "That one doesn't even have eyes," she said shamelessly pointing at Naruto, making the rest start chuckling like a bunch of pigs.

And there it was… the main insult…

Narrowing his invisible-brows, Gaara fisted his left-hand. Slowly and unnoticeably the wretched girls started to sink on the spot.

"Ha-ha-ha-… ?! …-Huh?!" girls abruptly stop their laughter and before they even noticed what's going on – they were already till their necks under the ground, which momentarily hardened around them.

'_Poor things…' _thought Naruto, _'Shame I can't see the looks on those faces…, though the noises are pretty good…'_

"AAAAAAAAAaahhh…" squeaked the girls as Naruto and Gaara pulled their hands into the pockets and slowly walked pass them.

Soon after the two walked off… a 5,7feet tall teen (with shoulder length, aqua like colored hair, wearing purple shirt with black belt in the middle and light-gray pants with purple ninja shoes and a huge sward strapped to his back) came into view with a 'pocky' stick sticking between his sharp teeth. Humming a happy tune he abruptly stopped in his track as his eyes caught something very intriguing… and the forgotten stick soon fell out off his mouth.

"Suigetsu!! What are you moron gaping at – Help ME!" Karin roared at the confused looking Suigetsu.

"Ummm… Huh?" blinking at her, Suigetsu glanced up – his eyes scanning other four girls' heads sticking out from the ground, crying for help.

"Have my prayers finally been listed?" whispered the dreamy looking wide-eyed teen, "Am I truly in Heaven's garden?" Suigetsu's mouth slowly twitched before he burst laughing. "Ho-how did you get there anyway?" he breathed between his heavy laughs.

"It's the darn quicksand… now – GET ME OUT YOU IDIOT BEFORE SASUKE-KUN SEES ME LIKE THIS!" yelled the desperate girl shaking her head in anger from one side to the other, making the boy in front of her fall to the ground and roar in laughter.

_

* * *

_

As the stomach growled, there was only one place where Naruto could satisfy his needs right now, "Hey old-man! Let's start with ramen _special_ please!" chirped jumping into the opened seat while Gaara rolled his eyes and sighing set beside him.

"Oh, it's you!" happily greeted chef his soon to become number-one-costumer and started making the teens orders that his daughter wrote down.

"Ohh…, hey Naruto…, Gaara!!" suddenly cheered a second cheerful voice sitting on the blond's left.

"Huh?! Choji!? That you?!" asked Naruto trying to play the role of clueless blind-boy.

"Mmm-mmm…" nodded the chubby-boy with mouth full of ramen, before remembering that the blond was blind and quickly apologized with an awkward 'yes', to which Naruto merely chuckled.

"CHOJI!! YOU HERE? Where is he?" abruptly came a loud call from a familiar girl's voice just outside the canteen, starting the sitting teens in it. "Boy! Leave it to Choji to go around then looking for him."

"Don't be a pain Ino. He's probably right here… Ah see!" and there was the 'troublesome' statements of the third character the two 'brothers' recognized immediately.

'_Reunion-ish day!' _smiling, thought Naruto back to his all (almost all) met friends just for this one special day.

"CHOJI!! YOU BETTER NOT BE EATING AGA-… Ou… …I didn't know you had company?!" the livid girl known as Ino quieted down once she entered the canteen and spotted the other two teens with her teammate. As the two turned to her, she blushed and smiled, while the 'troublesome' one sighed at her well known antics, "Women! …YOWW" the teen glared at the girl who just pinched him, and later followed her as she advanced closer to their chubby-friend.

"Choji!! Aren't you gonna introduce us?" she poked him to the side.

"Uumm… y-yeah, sorry," sheepishly grinning, Choji swallowed his food and turned in his seat. "Naruto…, Gaara! Meet my best-friends and teammates – Ino and Shikamaru."

"Hi!" smiled the slim girl with long, blond hair fixed in a tight pony-tail, a part of her loose hair were covering her left foggy-blue eye.

"Mm-hmmm, hi," was all the lazy-one with short, tightly tied dark-brown hair said while taking a seat next to the _chubby _and ordering something to eat.

"Hey!" smiled Naruto with Gaara nodding as usually.

"Here's your order!" smiled the chef startling Ino from her fantasy girlish stares and Naruto to grin with joy as the _special_ order was placed on the display all for him.

"Is he really gonna eat all that?" quietly asked both newcomers leaned closer to Choji eyeing big bowls of ramen placed just for that one small blond.

"You have no idea…" silently cried Choji, remembering him going to bankruptcy on their first meeting.

After five or ten minutes time of comforting silence the teens spend by eating and staring as Naruto went for the record, Shikamaru soon ended it by turning to his best-friend in a small information sharing. "So… Did you hear the _"news"_?" he asked while rolling his eyes at the word 'news'.

"About what?" clueless asked Choji.

"How can you not know?" lectured Ino at her friend's ignorance sitting next to Shikamaru. "The whole town is talking about it! Mainly girls actually…but anyway… Sasuke is back!" she said, making herself soon jump along with her friends as someone loudly chocked… particularly – Naruto.

"Excuse me!" quickly said Naruto as he stormed out of the canteen.

Slamming money onto the counter, Gaara wordlessly ran after his best-friend.

"What just happened?" asked confused Ino. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked a bit worried.

Shakamaru shrugged and turned back to his food. Ino and Choji exchanged glances as they spotted that thoughtful look in Shikamaru's dark-eyes.

_

* * *

_

"Naruto!! NARUTO!!"

Depth in ears at his 'brother's' calls, frustrated Naruto shook as he ran through the crowded streets. _'No… he can't… not here… it hurts… too much…!'_ Naruto soon went astray – running out off the road and into Konoha's forest as fast as normal civilian could force himself to.

'_Where on earth are you?'_ worried Gaara ran through the same crowd because of which he lost the sight of his 'brother'… Man! How he wished he could kill these annoying people right now who only got in the way.

Suddenly, his eyes caught a glimpse of something yellow; pushing past the people he ran to the direction of the forest.

From the shadows, a tall figure's eyes blazed with blood-red.

_

* * *

_

The figure leaped from a tree-branch to a tree-branch as it followed the two 'brothers'.

Stopping with most accuracy and soundless land on the final branch, the figure sank into the shadow of leafs'.

From afar it absorbed the heavily repeated breath of the blind-boy standing by the river with bowed head and a left-hand clenching his right-chest. _'Strange…'_ frowned the figure,thinking that usually people clench the left-side of their chest (closest to the heart) once they're in pain.

The red-head soon caught up and slowed his pace once he spotted his 'brother'. The hurt and sympathy shone through his eyes as he slowly walked over to him.

"I wish I could forget," whispered the broken sounding blond tightening his left-hand's clasp. "I wish it could just fade away…" he dug his nails through the fabric at that statement before his brother came over to stand in front of him and carefully pray them away.

Sighing once his hand was taken away, the blond composed himself with a tired exhale and took off his blindfold to rub his eyes. "I never thought that hearing those exact words spoken so lividly will bring such a hard burden upon me…" said the blond walking pass his brother and over to the river. Scooping some of the water he sprayed it onto his face and rubbed his eyes clean.

The figure frowned, wishing to see the boy's face and eyes, yet kept still absorbing them from behind, instead wondering what was with those strange statements!?

Taking a seat on the sandy-ground, Naruto took off his sandals and placed his feet into the streaming water, lightly moaning. Shaking his head, the red-head came by and sat next to him before tiredly exhaling and laying completely down on the sand, folding his hands behind his head and welcoming the light breeze calm his body and a comforting silence wash over them – it will definitely do more good than meaningless words right now.

The blond soon followed his example and laid his head onto the red-head's chest, turning on his left-side and pressing his ear to listen to the smooth heartbeats he soon lulled himself to much needed peace.

They stayed like that for around three hours – silent and unmoving, making the figure up the tree think that the two really did fall asleep. Just then a bird flew above the darkened sky signalizing a small message. Narrowing his blooded-eyes at the two, the figure shook its head and with a silent 'Hn' disappeared away.

Naruto blinked his hurting, empty eyes open and whispered, "He left."

"Hmm," mumbled Gaara from his spot. "Quite a curious Uchiha he turns out to be, ne?"

"He is careful. Unlike the others." Sitting up, Naruto grabbed a small rock he found in the sand and tossed it into the water, listening to the sound.

"Aa…" yawned the red-head in agreement.

Tossing another rock into the river, Naruto blinked with the afar look in his features, "You know… it doesn't make sense."

"What?" asked Gaara, opening his one eye to look at the whiskered-teen's back that was facing him.

"All that is him. I mean – he is a traitor…"

"So?" sighed Gaara closing his eye.

"What do you mean 'so'?! He killed his clan – his _own_ kin…, betrayed his homeland…, betrayed the trust of others." Turning to face his friend, Naruto frowned in thought, "Yet all that that is happening right now…?!… Is this all some sort of an act he's playing? Being the all innocent, protective and trustworthy? Was he really like that in our world? Or is it that everyone in this universe suddenly are _very_ _good_?"

"Have you ever thought that he might have had a reason to do what he did back at home?" suddenly said Gaara with the nothing important tone.

"A reason?" confused Naruto blinked many times.

"The Uchiha clan…" said Gaara opening his eyes to look up at the sky of orange, yellow, red, white and blue colors mixing together, "…the all too powerful clan…" he whispered quietly forcing Naruto to sharpen his ears and arch a golden brow.

"Ehh? What are you getting at?"

"Have you ever thought about it?"

"Thought about what??" frowned Naruto, understanding nothing.

"The clan… that clan that craves power…" Gaara continued still looking up at the sky.

"Powe-…What?" the blond head was getting all too dizzy.

"…the hatred…" the red-head only continued with his whispers for twisted thoughts, making Naruto even dizzier in the mind than he already is,

'_And here I thought _I_ was the one who's drunk!!?'_ "Yo-you now all this stuff you're telling me right now it just feels really weird… What are you saying?"

Inhaling the pleasant wind that made his body melt within the earth, Gaara closed his eyes and stretched his body before going for a sitting position. "Why is it that he is known to be _such_ a murder? _Such_ a bloody killer… …who couldn't even kill his own pathetic, little brother?"

"Is that a trick question? Hellooo??!! Are you even listening to me?"

"Love… did you ever thought about _love_?"

Blinking a couple of times, Naruto harshly shook his head and spoke with smooth and calm voice, "Ok Gaara… Now don't you worry! Everything is alright! Why don't we just take a deep-deep breath and go and skip for a little visit to Mr. Scissor-snipes the doctor? He'll sort you out. Because you know what…!? … I DON'T GET A DAMN THING YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!!" the blond was by now shaking Gaara by the collar.

"A ninja must always see what's underneath the underneath, Naruto." Finally looking at Naruto, Gaara spoke with serious voice; however, unfortunately, that just wasn't helping in the least…

"THAT DOES IT!!" finally snapped Naruto, "I HAD HAD IT WITH THIS BLOODY DIMENSION! LOOK WHAT IT HAS DONE TO GAARA! HE'S NUTS!! Soon he will be going around dancing in bunny slippers. And I won't even be THAT surprised!!" the poor blond shot up to his feet and started walking around while shouting everything his crazy mind gave him to unload.

'_You ignorant child…' _turning Naruto's blabbering off, Gaara stood up and dusted off his pants. _'Although I guess it really is way too soon to bring this theme into view. He won't understand it now. He's still healing from enough twists and turns of this new life… And bringing Itachi to this whole mess apparently was really a bad idea.'_

Glancing from his spot at the pacing 'brother' talking to himself – all he caught was:

"…-achi Uchiha AAAND _good_?! YA!! When pigs fly!! All that's missing now is for Orochimaru to actually turn out to be my grandfather… FUCKING LORD-…"

'_Yap… pretty bad idea indeed!' _and yet, Gaara couldn't hold back an abrupt chuckle at Naruto's last statement. _'Oh yeah…, _that_ would be the most interesting!'_

_

* * *

_

Another week went by, and Naruto felt like… "…an old-man." For his entire stay here in Konoha he had to deal with one Uchiha Itachi – burning and killing him with his eyes; bunch of wish-to-be-known-and-worshiped dream girls – trying to practically bury him till the center of the earth for God knows what purpose!?; a certain mutt trying to rip his throat out at every opened advantage; some really perverted men itching for his 'flesh'; one really tempting to get a second black-eye (one already was given) man by the name of Shisui; one accursed-_lizard_ with that long, slippery tongue that practically begged to be ripped out; and one _junior-_Hokage – whom he wished he could simply kill… and what was the most irritating about this whole thing was that he could do _absolutely_ _nothing_ about it. Other than that everything was normal.

Twitching to smile at his rumbling friend (his rumbles always making him look amusing), Gaara watched as the fire in front of them danced with beautiful lights. It was evening and they just finished their last day's work of the second week which was to be followed with a holiday on the next day… - so the gang decided to have a little night's party outside Konoha's gates and by a beautiful lake. Yelling and cheering filled the air as the cheerful workers sang, talked, laughed and some of them even danced around the set fire ring.

Suddenly Naruto's ear twitched, as did Gaara's. Dark-green eyes slowly rose up to look at the high cliff just on the other side of the long lake. A small rustle of leafs past… and the sounds soon went back to normal. Narrowing his invisible brows, Gaara blinked and looked back at the fire.

While Naruto simply shrugged it off and lay down onto the grass, spreading out his hands like a bird, "I'm beat…" he sighed tiredly (and that was meant emotionally).

"Well you sure look like one." spoke a warm voice of an old-man Gennou, who came by and sat besides the sprawled out Naruto on the grass.

After a brief moment of silence, Gaara found a right time to speak, "We're leaving Gennou." The red-head's usually direct statements always made the old-man cough too much air in his throat.

"W-why?" he coughed out surprised. "Is there something that is the matter?" worried he looked from the red-head to the blond.

'_Oh no…, you don't know the least of it…' _sarcastically murmured Naruto under his breath.

"We didn't plan on staying as the building workers for long, anyway, Gennou. Me and Naruto have other plans."

Looking at the ground, Gennou's expression turned into the one that shows hurt, but it quickly disappeared as he fixed his eyes on the fire, his glasses reflecting the dancing flames, "But you could still stay! Can't you?!" a small hope was in his voice, "You both became so close to us all… we're almost like a family here – and I don't mean that mess for a drama you and me created together – but a _real_ family. Once you're gone it will be very difficult and… -how should I put it…?!- … boring!"

Smirking, Gaara skipped a look at Naruto and said, "Heh… I guess Naruto still holds that light that will always brighten the day."

"'Hmph'!" sticking his tongue at the red-head, Naruto rolled away and turned his back to them.

"Are you sure of your decision?" saddened quietly asked Gennou, not to let anything be heard to the others.

"Yes…! It has became too much to bear…, if you catch my drift." narrowing his eyes, Gaara frowned at the fire.

"Is it because of…" biting his lip, at some point the old-man felt frightened to even ask, glancing at Naruto's back, he then turned to Gaara and asked, "…Minato?"

Looking over his shoulder at the lying Naruto's back himself, Gaara's eyes softened. "Not only that… it's everything." he whispered.

As he turned away, Gaara failed to notice a small tear slide down the blond's cheek.

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_Just a fair warning: The next three chp-s will contain lots of fighting scenes… some parts might even be unpleasant! _

_Anyways, thank you all who reviewed & make this story flow – thank you very much!!_

_& especial thanx to __-siarafaerie-101-miss_ _for the support – thank ya so much! I shall try to keep the miles-long chp-s livid;))_

_Later…;)_

_p.s. – you can go to my profile & check out the approximate visual illustration of Naruto & Gaara for this story… if you'd like?!;))_

_p.p.s. – one more thing – a question actually…_

_As far as I remember I already 'doomed' Naruto into the clenches of Itachi…, but whom should I give Gaara to? I was thinking between the likes of two – who are Suigetsu (because it would be fun, weird, awkward & rare (I thinkXD)) & Hinata (that seemed just sweet for me;)). I cut Neji out of it because of the similarities of his & Gaara's character in the story (Sorry…)._

_Anyway…, if anyone thinks that any of these two pairings are good, bad or completely wrong?! – please tell me! & if not…aaa well – you'll just have to bare with my choice ;))_

_Thank ya_

_&_

_Marry soon-to-come Christmas!!XD_

* * *


	11. Chapter 11

* * *

'_**Chapter 11'**_

* * *

Naruto sighed as he lay on the bed. Not much of a sleep was done last night as it came to morning already.

Gaara was already up and digging through the wardrobe – searching for something to wear. Coming up to dark-brown pants and white tank-top he pulled them on. While tying a white sash around his hips he gazed at Naruto on the bed looking as if staring at the ceiling with those accursed empty eyes.

Lowering his lids, eyes softening, Gaara walked over to the mirror and started meddling with his hair.

"I don't need pity Gaara…" suddenly said the blond, startling the red-head a bit. "And besides," smirking, Naruto turned his head to face Gaara who was looking at him from the corner of his eye giving a slightly flinch as he spotted those dreadful looking eyes. "I already got used to it. Actually it's even better, because there are… _things_… that I better not see," grinned the blond.

Frowning at usual way to get out from the subject by hiding behind the false emotions, Gaara hissed a bit irritated, "If you are going to practice your acting skills Naruto, then please do it upon stupid spectators in the theatre…, _not_ me!"

Feeling like being punched, Naruto's grin faded away and he rolled back onto his back facing the ceiling again. "I don't want you to worry about me," he sighed out, running his hands through his hair before dropping them heavily to the sides of his body. "It is not your fault."

"I would gladly find sarcasm to that one, but I simply can't come up with one right now…" the red-head rolled his eyes as he fixed his hair into a loose pony-tail.

"Shut up already! That would be the least of the things you should be worrying about anyway. Cause I will _still_ kill you for dragging me to Konoha, you stupid _panda_!"

'_That I did…'_ standing up, Gaara went back to the wardrobe to get another set of clothes. Grabbing black pants, white tank-top and white sash, Gaara shrugged at the choice and threw them over to Naruto.

Stretching out, Naruto felt the thrown clothes land on his stomach and rumbling, reluctantly got out of the bed. Putting the clothes on, he then went to fix his hair into a long braid.

Tying a black bandanna on, Gaara did a double look once he spotted Naruto's blindfold resting on the table. Grabbing it in his hands he stared at it…, then glared at it…, and before he could simply destroy it, a tan hand reached out and snatched it from his grip.

"Just my point – you're worrying too much," said Naruto tying it on and patting the red-head on the back before walking pass him and out through the door.

"Hn," shoving his hands into the pockets the red-head silently followed.

* * *

Reaching the kitchen, both met up with the lonesome old-man drinking…

"Tea?!" he offered, smiling.

"Juice!" corrected Naruto and went to the fridge to get his _real_ juice (not 'sake') …this time.

Gaara simply shook his head at the offer and pealed an orange after he reached out and grabbed it from the fruit-basket hanging over the table.

"Is there any hope for me to think that after these holidays you …maybe… changed your minds?" starting a conversation asked the old-man, searching for any sign of a word 'yes'.

"No," emotionally stated Gaara, just as direct and painful as ever.

Nodding in understanding, Gennou took a sip of his tea. "So tomorrow night then?!"

"Yes," replied Naruto taking a seat at the table, next to Gaara and across from the elder. "But we shall stay and help with the work before our departure."

"Where will you be going next?"

"To Sunagakure. And maybe even settle in for two-tree years," smiled Naruto, wishing he could see Gaara's emotions run through his green-eyes.

"Really?" a sudden suspiciously big smile spread across the old features. "What a funny coincidence." Gennou sounded as if he was predicting such an answer and felt delighted that it turned out just as planned.

"Coincidence? Of what?" asked Naruto.

"Oh nothing…" sang the extremely delighted sounding old-man, "…just the fact that we will be seeing each other sooner than you think."

"How come?! Is Suna also in need of assistance or something?!"

"Well… not really! You see, as traveled workers we have many requests coming from around, which is why in each of the villages that we've been to we have a small base to settle in (if the work is to take more than a month, for example). So you can also say that the base you and me met was just a small part of the real thing. But our _main_ base is located in Sunagakure. Apart from my gathered group while traveling – I, my youngest son and some of our friends are actually workers of Sand-village."

"You old-goat! Where you ever planning on telling us that you are a villager of Sand and not Wave?" roared Naruto, slamming his hand onto the table, making the plates jump and the poor table crack.

"Now where's the fun would be in that?…" teasingly smiled Gennou, wiping the spilled tea with a napkin, "…Especially considering the fact that Gaara's homeland just _happens_ to be Sand…, right Gaara?!"

Gaara chocked at the orange, Naruto's mouth fell to the floor and Gennou found the best time for a happy tune to hum.

"W-what did you just say?" stuttered Gaara.

"Well I did already tell you that I know where you came from…" shrugged the elder as if it were no big deal.

"Yesss, but how on earth do you know the exact _villages_ we come from?" hissed the blond.

"One word – … …demon," smiled Gennou, using that exact same word for practically no answers.

At this point Gaara's eyes widened as if discovery overtook the mind, "Could he-…"

"GOOD MORNING PEOPLE!" suddenly came a loud scream of morning's greeting from Gennou's son, making the two teens visibly jump.

Waving in reply at the entering workers, Gennou then turned to the 'brothers' and leaning over the table he placed his index-finger to his lips, voicing out a silent, "Shhh…" as if hiding a secret. Chuckling as the boys growled in response, probably wishing to dagger him right now, Gennou straightened up and walked over to the fridge to prepare something edible before they will go to work.

"No doubt he's feeling terribly smug right now," mumbled still confused and quite unhappy Naruto under his breath as he leant his cheek on his left-palm.

Gaara didn't reply to that, but seemingly lined his mouth in deep thought.

* * *

"Ok guys! Let's get to work!" shouted Gennou once they reached their destination.

Rubbing his neck for it to not tense up, Naruto exhaled silently. "Just one more day…" he whispered hopefully and followed to help the rest with their tasks.

Time flew as did the work… till it came to lunch break…

Sighing, Naruto placed the instruments down and reached over to sit on the newly fixed window (to taste if it's steady while he's at it).

Gaara walked up right below him and placed a bucket of paint by the door. Looking up at the second floor where Naruto was swinging his legs over the window, he sighed and prepared to go and walk up, yet suddenly stopped as a strange set of breeze brushed his hair. Turning around he arched a curious brow, mindlessly sensing Naruto jump down next to him.

"Did you sense something strange?" asked Naruto, seemingly not very interested and as if he already knew yet wanted an answer anyway.

"Aa…" simply confirmed the red-head.

Tightening his teeth together and narrowing his brows, Naruto uttered out bluntly. "Leave it!" that sounded more like an order to the red-head. "If it doesn't concern _us_…, then just leave it! If they are to die… then they die…"

Gaara frowned at Naruto's changed voice and sudden behavior, as if Kyuubi himself was threatening to rip out.

"Naruto!! Gaara! Come here, will ya?" abruptly shouted Gennou's son, calling them over for the meal.

Brushing pass his glaring 'brother', Naruto silently made his way over to the gang.

Watching the blond go, Gaara reluctantly followed. _'I can already tell that it won't be long till he will lose it.__ And the worst part is that he doesn't even know that some part of his mind is slowly leading him to instability.__ Shit! We should have left yesterday already.'_ Stopping to rub his temples, Gaara slowly blinked, _'Hopefully he will hold it till time…'_

* * *

After finishing their lunch, all workers stretched out and content with food went back to their doings.

Feeling full and left all alone, Naruto allowed himself to sleepily yawn.

"Not tired already are you, my little kitten?" but it just didn't go the way he wanted it, as suddenly came the all annoying chirping of _that_ man.

"Hey Shisui!" grinned Naruto, turning to face the man in dark-blue ninja uniform. "How's the eye?" he asked smiling with care, though on the inside he was smirking with pride for decorating that face.

"Aww… I feel blessed with your care," smiled Shisui and took Naruto's hand to kiss its knuckles.

Naruto's mouth twitched as an unbelievable rage suddenly overtook him and he snapped… - punching the man right across the face.

**WHAAMMM**

The loud punch echoed the streets, making all workers stop and re-catch the skipping laughs at the sight.

"Urgh… WHAT A HELL WAS THAT FOR?" roared the man on the ground after regaining enough consciousness.

"Umm…" Naruto really couldn't find a logical lie for an answer to that one, because he was just as shocked with his sudden reaction as well… So instead he simply decided to voice out the first thing that came to mind… "There was a bee flying?!" that went rather like a question than an answer.

"It appears you have a strange obsession with bees, Naruto-kun."

'_God! Do you hate me that much?' _"Hello Anbu-san! Didn't _seeee _ya there." smiled the blond from ear to ear at the appearing presence of a second Uchiha. "How are you feeling today?"

"Sharp," the masked Anbu with loose pony-tail replied, as if practically saying – _'I'm keeping an eye on you.'_

"Good to hear!" on the inside Naruto rolled his eyes.

A bird abruptly flew above their heads, breaking the farther tension that threatened to come out, and summoned the two ninjas.

"Duties call my angel," smirking at the blond, Shisui stood up with his hand covering his blooded nose and then looked at his ebony-haired partner. "Shall we?"

"Hn. Later, Naruto-kun," said the _pony-tailed_ and disappeared with the slightly taller one by his side in swirling black flames that heaved Naruto's hair from the formed strength of wind.

Shivering at the wave of used jutsu, Naruto scowled and snorted, "Hn… showoff," and turned in his heels to go back to work.

Taking the first step, Naruto abruptly froze… _'Strange…'_ Narrowed his brows, he turned back around – feeling more than others seeing…

Clouds covered the blue of the sky as shadow went over the village; winds perked up, complimenting distant sounds of lighting. _'Storm is coming up…'_

A strangely uneasy feeling abruptly ran through his spine, making him shiver…

Tilting his mouth in a thin line, Naruto felt every human voice on the street go distant as he blended in with nature… – hearing only leafs which voiced out beautiful sounds of nature, birds flying high above the sky and little sand stones being picked up in little swirls of the wind.

Deeply inhaling, he calmly exhaled, _'Apparently Jiraiya's research went about two months wrong. They're here…' _as soon as that thought left his mind – a dash of metal cut through leafs and darted directly towards the working group of his friends.

Reflexes twitched and Naruto jumped up to meet the kunai that was about to pass over his head. With utmost speed he caught the kunai with his index-finger by the ring only to wriggle it around and threw up high in the air (a trick he learned from a certain 'Grandma').

**BOOOM…**

Suddenly a massive explosion erupted from it, making all of the people in the streets gasp and flinch from shock.

'_Paper-bomb…' _guessed Naruto as he landed back to his feet.

Senses went on high alert as a huge explosive wave hit his ears. Quickly turning around, Gaara was met with a sight of a massive black-smoke high in the air and right above Naruto.

'_So they finally showed up…'_

Just as spoken – a mass of black dressed ninjas suddenly jumped high in the air and over the walls leashing out their katanas that blazed with sharpness and lust for the color of blood.

Upon instinct, one woman's sudden scream broke the deadness of shocked silence. Terrified, villagers started screaming, grabbing their children and rushing off everywhere the lost and frightened minds led them, as black-ninjas showed no mercy to anyone in their way.

"COME ON!!" screamed one of the workers as he grabbed frozen Naruto's wrist and rushed them towards the mountains.

Running along, pass and in the middle of the group of terrified people, Gaara looked up to see Leaf's shinobi jump over the roofs and rush towards to face the enemy; shurikens, kunais, katanas and all kind of different weaponry clashed. Shaking his head, Gaara went on running with the crowd.

"Run!!"

"What's happening?!"

"Oh God!"

"The lightning… their attacking us!"

"But they weren't supposed to attack for nearly two months."

"Hide! Quickly!"

"Ever heard such word as deception??"

"RUN!!"

"Come on!!"

"This way! HURRY!"

People screamed all kinds of things, just to get their families, friends and themselves to safety.

Finally catching the sight of his own group he lost in the crowd that never seemed to halt, Gaara ran over and caught up with them.

"This way! Keep running!" it was Gennou who ordered them around, leading the group of his workers over to the mountain right behind the Tower they stayed by.

Finally reaching the said destination, everyone halt to catch their breaths. Coming to stand by Naruto's side, Gaara curiously looked to the side to see from afar women hugging their children close and a group of three leaf-nins usher them all into the mountain.

"Alright… is everyone safe?" Gennou spoke, bringing Gaara back to the present. "Good! Now then… follow me and stay put!" Nodding, everyone started walking behind the old-man, who led them up the stairs of the mountain to safety.

Everyone kept quiet as they walked the track of the mountain that was drilled into the sides and led them up to the mountain's very top; the only atmosphere that was given were the shouts of men fighting and metal striking another metal; a couple of explosions came by every once and awhile.

Glancing over his shoulder, Gennou frowned at the 'brothers' who looked rather calm apart from what he expected. Shaking his head he then glanced over at the village, which he noted was by now about hundred-meters below them. Blood, crumbles, fire and smoke were the main characters to describe it; streets seemed cleared out from any citizens, and the only ones remaining and fighting were the leaf shinobi, who looked to be handling things pretty good…

…That is before a strange sound of something similar to a summon went off, and soon after – a loud roar echoed against the mountains, making its presence livid.

Startled, everyone perked up at the vicious growl that was soon joined with just as loud crash of the wall.

Looking over to their right, the workers stared in shock at the dust where a part of Leaf's wall was just destroyed. Suddenly a huge paw shot out from the formed dusted area and stepped on the house that was in its way.

"Aww Man! We just fixed that!" cried unbelieving son of Gennou only to be interrupted by another loud roar, which in process cleared the dust out of the way for them to see the cause of such destruction.

'_This could be a problem,' _thought Gennou, sliding his glasses back up.

"Oh my God!" whispered the fellow coworkers as their eyes widened upon the sight of… "Rokubi – the Six-Tailed-Demon…"

Apart from ready-to-wet-their-pants men, Naruto frowned in regret – saddened for not being able to see his fellow demon at 'work'.

Whilst Gaara blinked as he stared at the firstly seen sight of Six-Tailed…weasel?! _'Well it sure looks like one… Hold on! What is that?' _Gaara's eyes sharpened as he caught a strange seal like tag shone up between demon's eyes. Turning to Naruto, he was about to question on the description, but stopped as his ears perked up the now three familiar voices shouting out, "Summoning jutsu!"

An abrupt blast of smoke and out from it three more creatures appeared: a big violet snake with black rings covering its body; a white slug with blue color covering its sides; and a toad with a pipe in his mouth, wearing short kimono with symbol for 'shrimp'. All three summoners (Orochimaru, Tsunade and Jiraiya) stood atop their heads.

"Let's move!" sternly ordered Gennou for the others to move as the beasts leaped at each other – three of them trying to allure the one away from the village while that said one was trying to eat the toad.

As they kept walking, Gaara curiously looked over the high edge to see a bunch of students from the Academy being led by some teachers about ten meters below them. Three of them seemed rather familiar; looking closer Gaara blinked with recognition before that blink was replaced with wide eyes, as a sudden kunai landed between them (workers and children) on the wall and blazed up.

"Shit!" cursed Gaara as his eyes caught the sight of a tag and quickly stepped back as the explosive erupt. He and the rest of men fell to the ground from the created earthquake of the blast that crumbled the side of the mountain.

Shocked children were quickly rushed away from the danger as huge crumbles went falling down straight on them. Unfortunately two of the teachers got caught by the created avalanche and fell.

"SENSEIII!!!" screamed terrified children for their fallen teachers and abruptly gasped as five dark ninjas appeared – surrounding them. Not soon later, another group of ninjas surrounded a group above.

Gaara blinked through the formed dust to see a bunch of men, wearing cloud headbands surrounding them and smirking at their success.

'_Idiots…' _thought Gaara and watched as they slowly unleashed their swards but stopped to have a good laugh as they heard something entertaining coming from below.

"LET GO OF ME YOU UGLY BASTARD!" shouted still a small voice of a familiar boy. At that moment Naruto's interest perked up the most, Gaara mussed, as he felt him slightly tense by his side.

"Looky here!" loudly said one of the amused men holding a struggling boy (with spiky, dark-brown hair, dark-brown eyed boy with long and blue scarf hanging around his neck) by the collar, "We go us a little hero…"

"More or less like a zero…" laughed the others with the ones on the top joining in, as they also heard.

"I said, Let me GO!! You can't do this to me!! Do you even know who I am?!" screamed and kicked the boy as the ninja hoisted him higher in the air by his shirt.

"Like I care…" boringly hissed the dark-nin and using the lightest of effort threw the boy off the cliff.

"KONOHAMARU!!"

"NOOooo…" screamed the frightened children cornered in the corner.

Gaara didn't even manage to precede the situation he just heard when Naruto already rushed pass him like a lightning.

"Naruto! NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" screamed the shocked and dumbfounded workers.

Caring less what's happening around him, within the blink of an eye Naruto undid his sash while running and as he passed a bend rock (formed from the explosion) he quickly caught it with the tied end and jumped down (much like a bungee).

"Tch…" speeding over to the edge, Gaara kneeled down and grabbed the tied end of the sash for a better secure.

Diving in, Naruto soon reached over to his unofficial 'student' and reaching out he quickly snatched him right before the amazingly long sash (able to stretch up to ninety-meters) would reach its length. Quickly taking a secure and tight hold at the end of the sash, he stopped them with a painful and almost muscle ripping tug. Holding to the end with his now slightly hurting left-hand, he heaved a deep exhale as the boy was safely secured close to his chest by another hand.

Konohamaru blinked as he finally regained from his shocked stage at the light beating of someone's heart. Curious, he looked up to see a beautiful angel like creature holding him.

"A…a…am I… d-dead?"

'_Dead huh?!' _Naruto simply chuckled at that.

Sighing in relief, seeing Naruto hanging there, Gaara stood up and started pulling the stretched sash back up.

"Little brat!!" irritated roared one of the dark-nins for ruining their amusement show and threw a kunai at the sash in Gaara's hands – cutting it in half.

The red-head fell backwards as he was detached.

Naruto cursed, "Fuck," as he felt them falling back down.

Gaara blinked at the half of the cut sash in his hands and his eyes suddenly turned black with utmost anger… and all the lightning's nins could do was gulp at the next couple of seconds they had left.

"Hold on!" ordered Naruto as he pulled Konohamaru back close to his body, where the boy quickly wrapped his legs around the taller boy's waist and hands around his neck, and quickly gathered a small amount of chakra in his palms. With that done Naruto reached over and caught the mountain's wall by brushing his chakra-intact-hand till it finally slowed them down to the complete stop.

Heaving a small sigh of relief, Naruto surveyed the height they're in and pushed away from the wall. Bouncing on a tree and then on a house, he finally landed safely to the ground in the middle of the empty street not far from the Tower.

Lowering the clinging boy, he silently whispered, "It's ok! You can let go now," smiled Naruto.

Konohamaru prayed his eyes finally open and after blinking more than it would be enough he looked up at the teen whose shirt he was still gripping. "Umm…sorry," letting the shirt go so if it was the hottest teapot he ever touched, he blushed and scratched his neck uncomfortably, "I… aaa…"

"Well…well…well… that was quite a show I must admit!" Naruto frowned as suddenly a group of ten-fifteen cloud-nins emerged from the shadows.

Trying to not show up weak in the presence of his saviour, Konohamaru shook himself from all frights and shocks he just experienced only to gather enough foolish courage to go and stand in front of Naruto (as if protecting him) and even yell at the large, scary-looking men…,

"You are all so dead!! And your friends up there will follow you soon! Just you wait till I get my grandpa!!" he yelled out confidently.

"Ohh…, Don't forget to get your grandma while you're at it," teasingly laughed the men in reply.

"SHUT UP!! You don't know what you just got yourselves into!! I am Konohamaru… the grandson of the Hoka-mhrmhh…" the boy didn't get to finish as the blond-teen clapped his mouth shut with his hand.

'_Konohamaru, you little shrimp…' _cursed Naruto as the men around them perked up in interest.

"Ohhhhh… look boys…" one of the tall men with violet hair reaching his shoulders and scars covering his both eyes announced in amusement, "… We got us the heir of the Hokage." He smirked, making the others chuckle with their own satisfaction.

"That only makesss thingsss even more to our advantage," confirmed the man with dirty-white, short hair, using a particularly snake-ish voice.

"Now then pretty-girl…-" smirked the violet haired man eyeing Naruto's figure up and down blatantly. "-…hand over the brat! Or-…"

"Or better yet," cut the hissing-man looking at his others with his own smirk, "come along with the whole boy," he hissed out while others burst out laughing in agreement.

"Yeah, come on!!" said a bunch of cloud-shinobi and slowly stepped towards the silent blind-boy.

"We'll have lodesss of fun!!" snickered the dirty-white haired also advancing.

"Stand in line boys," pulling his hand up, again spoke the scarred man, smirking at the others as he stepped out farther, "I'll get to go first." He stated arrogantly and full of confidence walked to the still indifferent blond and beginning-to-shake-again boy.

"Hm," Naruto merely scowled at them in distaste and twitched his small finger…

…Suddenly the earth shot out – taking the form of something similar to the blade shaped out of the rocks – and pierced the advancing man through his stomach, crashing the backbone in the way and piercing itself out from his back…

Just as quickly the blade-shape appeared…it disappeared back into the even ground, letting the still standing man's legs after some time give out and fall to the ground – face first – dead.

"Wah…?! … WHAT A FUCK?! How did you…?!"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO OUR LEADER?!"

"BITCH! Anssswer me!!"

"WHO ARE YOU?!?" united shouted the depressed men, demanding a reply and reaching over for their weapons.

"Like if you would believe me…" mumbled Naruto and pulled his hands together – about to form another jutsu…, but stopped as suddenly out of every corner, allay and direction of the street – waves of the sand rushed out.

Konohamaru stared in shock and amazement while subconsciously pushing his back deeper into the teen behind him as the uncontrollable sand flew around them both – swallowing all cloud-nins till the last presented one.

Feeling the shorter boy's head press against his abdomen, Naruto lightly placed his both hands on his shoulders to let the boy know that he's safe.

Konohamaru was slightly brought out of his awe and shock as he felt hands on his shoulders; about to look up, he did a double look as another slightly similar teen facing his back abruptly appeared in front of them in a swirl of sand.

While the struggling and fighting men were slowly swallowed whole, the small boy blinked as he caught the red-head wordlessly fist his right-hand by his side…

… Muffled yet loud, desperate screams and sickening sounds of bones cracking filled the street, making the unpleasant shivers run down the spine. Soon the sand released its victims (revealing a sickening sight of dead cloud-nins – or what could be made of them) and sank into the ground like water would.

Crossing then his arms, Gaara turned around and glared his dark-greens at the boy now hiding behind Naruto, because of whom he had to go through all the trouble of messing around and leashing out his sand.

Snicker brought him out of his thoughts. "Don't scare the boy, Gaara! Even I can see that look in your eyes…" amusement colored Naruto's voice as he thought about 'brother's' usual antics towards foolish children.

"Hn."

Turing around, Naruto kneeled in front of the frozen Konohamaru, who stared at Gaara with frightened eyes. "Boy!" the blond called for him.

"A…a…h-huh?…" startled a bit, the small kid finally looked at the blond, giving him full attention, "Y-yes?"

Smiling at the child, Naruto then pointed to his right, "You see that alley down on your left?"

"Y-yeah…"

"It leads directly to the direction of the Hokage's place. I want you to run it till you will reach the Tower."

"B-but…"

"Don't worry, no-one will see you," ruffling the spiky head, Naruto stood up and smiled down at the blinking kid. "Now go!" he said and disappeared along with the red-head, leaving the still confused and blinking boy looking frantically around for the two weird teens who were nowhere in sight.

Somewhere rather afar, deeply in the dark room filled with candle-lights, two sets of old hands were held atop of the shinny crystal-ball reflected the image of the event. A shadowed figure in the room deeply narrowed its eyes.

* * *

Down in some dark and empty street, two swirls of red and sandy-yellow color summoned two figures – Naruto and Gaara.

Looking at the rather silent Naruto, Gaara twitched his mouth in a small smirked, "So what happened to the _leave them to die _part, hmm?!" he asked in a teasing voice, referring to the boy Naruto just saved.

"'Hmph!'…, that was just a slip that's all," said the blond, turning away from him and crossing his arms with a little pout.

"I'm sure…," smirked Gaara but frowned as a sickening sound of a bone breaking and cries unleashing brought his attention to the street on the other side of the lined houses (that separated the streets) standing behind him. Then there was a snap of some sort, which seemed to muffle the painful cries, and before the two 'brothers' knew it, a body of some dead guy was thrown right over the house-line and landed right in between them.

Gaara boringly blinked at the disgustingly maimed body of the…

"Dead _leaf_?" asked Naruto, referring to the ninja on the ground by his feet.

"Hn." Looking then up at Naruto, Gaara asked in a suggestive sort of way, "What do you think?"

"I think it's time to leave," shortly said Naruto.

Blinking at the afar blasts erupting here and there, Gaara looked down the road they stood on and gazed upon the broken gates that could be seen. "Gonna be kind a hard without them noticing us. It's still bright and the shinobi are all around the place." Sighed Gaara, blinking again as loud, livid roars echoed through the forest – signaling them the still held fight of four summons far away from the village. Crossing then his arms, he turned back to Naruto and informed, "You know that I had to kill those nins up in the mountain…and everyone of our group and children saw it!?"

"More of the point to leave now…"

"Agreed…"

* * *

A top of the mountains, an old-man stood and watched the village below, while he was forced to listen to his clueless staff bickering behind him, with silent children curiously watching them.

"WHAT is the meaning of this??"

"Have you anything to do with this father?"

"Gennou! Did you know all this?!"

"Gennou! Gennou! GENNOU!"

"Why are you so quiet?"

"What a Hell just happened down there?"

"What did Gaara do to those guys?"

"And where in Heaven places did all that sand came from?"

"HOW THE HELL DID HE DO THAT?"

"GEN-… AAAAHHHH…" the annoying bickering suddenly stopped as the startled men screamed by the sudden appearance of Naruto and Gaara into red and sandy-yellow swirls.

Facing their backs to the wide-eyed coworkers, 'brothers' called for Gennou who stood in front of them.

"You're leaving?" He asked still looking down at the village and catching a small figure of Minato and four of the Anbu closely following him leave the Hokage Tower and head to the forest where the fight has been moved to.

Naruto turned his head away while Gaara's eyes slightly lidded shut.

Narrowing his eyes at the far-far distance that seemingly caught his attention, the old-man silently sighed and looking over his shoulder. Turning fully around he went over the two 'brothers' and smiled as he reached over and hugged them both.

Staying like that for a couple of seconds, the elder suddenly frowned and tightened his grip upon the two. A quiet whisper left his lips, "Usually I would never ask such a thing…" he started, making the two tense, "…But you are the only ones who I can ask of such a thing. Please… this is a onetime request…"

"…" Naruto felt his heart clench in painful anger that wanted to burst out, for he knew what the man wants.

"…" Gaara closed his eyes and silently begged for the man to not ask what he thinks he is going to…

"Something is approaching the village… fast!" the man continued with serious voice, "And it will be the end of it…if something will not be done."

'Brothers' stood quiet.

"So I'm asking you… I'm begging you…" _'I'm begging __you__ Naruto…' _"Please… save the village!"

The chest felt stung, Naruto quickly released himself free from the slightly confused man and went to stand over the edge alone, a hurt expression on his face.

"Gennou," narrowing his eyes, Gaara prayed the man's other hand off of him and grabbing his wrist led him to the side, away from curious ears. "Do you even understand what are you saying?"

"I am asking of help." Gennou blinked at Gaara's weird question.

"Whatever help you need, you can't ask it from us."

"Why not?"

"Because you don't know the threat you're willing to put Konoha to!"

"What are you talking about?! Look around yourself Gaara. What do you call this? I think that's the precise description of a word _threat_." he stated nodding towards the village.

"Leaf shinobi can handle things just fine, Gennou. Don't involve me and my brother in it!" narrowing his eyes retorted the red-head.

Putting his hands up, the old-man nodded to that in agreement, "Yes… yes they can!" however he still kept to his previous point, "…But they stand no chance against that what is to come!"

Gaara merely shook his head, "If you will ask help from us, it will be the village's downfall…"

"If we won't stop that what is approaching the village there won't be a village anymore." the man started to get angry.

"And we are no different from _that_ what is approaching." Gaara hissed, becoming irritated. "For God's sake, Gennou! You don't have _any_ idea what might happen if-…"

"But much more will happen if you won't stop it-…" the old-man was shouting by now.

"You don't see the danger you are willing to unleash upon this land!" said Gaara in raised voice, challenging the man out.

"What danger? There can't be anything more dangerous than _that_!" confused the man yelled back.

"It will take one mistake, Gennou! …ONE…" Gaara raised his voice at the word. "…and he will turn the tables."

"What a Hell are you talking about? Who?" demanding asked Gennou.

Gaara scowled at the elder and slowly turned his head to the silent blond. Gennou blinked and his eyes slowly widened.

'_Naruto?'_

"I already screwed enough by bringing him here. Please don't do the same mistake to him too."

"I'm not sure I understand…"

"Naruto…" sighing, Gaara paused for a second, "…is the main reason of our sudden departure, old-man."

Gennou looked at the blond, then back at the red-head who continued speaking. "The line has started to crack. Naruto is now balanced on a small part of his inner stability. The longer he stays here, the bigger the treat he is for Konoha."

"What do you mean by stability?"

Looking at the elder with empty eyes, Gaara blinked and replied, "You are wishing for him to save that what he learned to protect by law and that what he hates by heart… All _those_ people you see as _angels_, in our world where the ones who hurt him the most. Now tell me! What do you think I mean by 'stability' if you will ask him of such a thing?"

'_He will turn the tables and attack the Leaf…'_

"If you know what's good for-…"

"Gaara!!" suddenly interrupted Naruto appearing between them and growling at his 'brother' to shut up.

Gaara frowned and looked away, as the blond turned to the elder's direction and suddenly smiled, exclaiming in whisper, "I'm not promising anything Gramps… but… I will help."

Gaara turned to shoot the elder a nasty look.

Gennou watched Naruto's false emotions with sad and widen eyes, "Naruto… I…" _'I didn't know…'_ he was about to apologies and take everything back, yet couldn't mange as Naruto was already taken by the swirl and disappeared. "Catch ya later, Gramps," grinned the blond before he disappeared.

"Naruto, WAIT!!"

Still looking and glaring at the elder, Gaara snorted in defeat and said quietly, "The ninjas of the Lightning-country are not the ones who are a threat to this village, Gennou… it's Naruto. ……And I do hope I'm wrong," with that said he disappeared as well.

* * *

Running atop the roofs, Naruto felt Gaara catch up with him.

"Why did you agree?" sternly asked the red-head.

"Relax will ya… I'm in desperate need for some good kill right now. And after all – I wasn't even planning on leaving without as much as a _last _'goodbye'." smirked Naruto, though Gaara frowned as he understood the under-meaning of it. _'Gennou you old fool.'_

The red-head's thoughts were disturbed as both of their senses perked up on something rather disturbing.

"We have eyes on us."

"The Old-man Sarutobi never fails with that crystal of his," smirked Naruto.

"Get rid of him!" ordered Gaara.

"Easier said than done!" said Naruto and jumped down from the roofs to hit the ground hard and raise a fog of dust around them. Going through quick signs, he created two pairs of identical clones, "That'll keep him occupied…"

…and out of the smoke they rushed off into the forest…

* * *

_A/N – _Huge _thanks to reviewers;))_

_Umm…right, I guess I have some questions to answer:_

-siarafaerie-101-miss – _I update rather rare because it takes a lot of time to write &…umm… well… because I am too lazy sometimes XD_

greeneboy313 – _no, Naruto's sight isn't healing, it's gone for good. However, I will come up with another twisted way to get it back later, so no worries;))_

-emerald jaguar- – _Neji, Shino & Gaara will have too similar characters in this story & therefore won't succeed in this fic, sorry=)  
__I am looking for complete opposites of him. Thanks for the suggestion anyway;))_

_Happy coming Holidays!!_

_Later;))_

* * *


	12. Chapter 12

* * *

'_**Chapter 12'**_

* * *

Lighting hit the dark-clouded sky as Naruto ripped his clawed hand out of the just killed ninja of the Lightning. Letting the deadweight fall to the ground, Naruto snorted at the smell of blood that darted into his nostrils from all directions and turned his head to the right as he felt the ground beneath him quiver and a loud roar echo through the whole forest; the summons were still fighting about two miles away from them.

Another dead nin was thrown besides the body of Naruto's killed man, and not soon after Gaara jumped in and landed in front of him.

The 'brothers' were now about five miles away from the village's walls and heading straight forward the unknown… They would have easily succeeded the whole fifteen miles, if the cloud-ninjas wouldn't have just gotten in their way…

After scanning the area of hundred beaten-dead shinobi, killed by the usage of bare hands and no weapons, Gaara wordlessly jumped back up to the previously traveled trees with Naruto following.

* * *

"Report," required the blond-haired man to the newly arrived Anbu by his side, while jumping through the tree-branches with two others.

"Southern west, South, Southern east, East and Northern east sides of the village are secured, sir!" spoke the leaf-shinobi with spiky, grey hair.

Another Anbu with loose pony-tailed fixed hair came by next to him, "The Northern west is at rather unstable condition. The demolition of the Six-Tailed has opened up a weak point. Yet no great of a threat has yet been spotted nor on the North nor the West sides."

Narrowing his brows, the blond suddenly put an extra force on the branch and dashed directly towards another group of thirty cloud-shinobi running towards them. Clashing katana with katana, he sliced the cloud-nin's throat and stabbed the man that was about to attack him from the side. _'This looks all too easy. What are you planning?' _Jumping away from the lightning that almost struck him, the blond took out one of his kunais and threw it at the lighting-user with utmost speed, killing him as it was stabbed in the head.

Landing back to his feet on the clear, the blond-man pressed the button on his neck attachment that held the radio to his ear. "Talk!"

"Namikaze-sama, the shinobi of the lightning are retreating the Northern and Western sides." came the answer of a man's voice.

"Send a group to follow them!" he ordered to the leaf-nin on the other-side of his radio and turned it off. Frowning in thought, he turned to look at the four Anbu inspecting and walking over the bodies they just finished off.

* * *

Naruto jumped high in the air from the branch of the tree and went down to land right in the middle of a clearing where ten men in a circle were concentrating on a jutsu of the sort.

"What?!" startled, angrily hissed one of the surprised men closest to Naruto, and before he could tell he was punched right into the face with the boy's fist, which came very painful if he might add.

Cursing at the shock that slowed their reflex, all of the cloud-ninjas shoot from their spots, ceasing the jutsu, and attacked the teen.

Punching the next and closest of the advancing man into the gut, Naruto quickly stole one of the kunais with a tag wrapped around it (hanging by the man's waist) and jumped up before the attacking cloud-nins could get him. Reaching the height of about ten meters, Naruto threw the kunai in the middle of the group and as it stuck itself into the ground an explosion went off. Half of the men's fate was sealed, while the rest who escaped the bomb cursed him and jumped after the blond who landed on a tree-bole… only to push-back and jump straight back forward.

Groaning at the pain in his jaw, the firstly punched cloud-shinobi blinked the blur of vision away from his spot under the tree to see as four of his comrades suddenly fell down from thin air – all dead and dropped around him. Not soon after that accursed child, who whacked him into unconsciousness by a mere punch, jumped down in middle of the clearing, facing his back.

Enraged, the last of the left cloud-nins gritted his teeth, grabbed his katana strapped to the back and charged with incredible speed. Smirking with delight at the seemingly oblivious boy, he reached out to slice him…

To Naruto time seemed to slow down… Stepping to the side and avoiding the sharp blade that slightly cut the end of the strands of his hair, Naruto turned around and his right-hand shot up – grabbing the man's throat as he got too close to him by losing his balance from the failed kill.

A small gasp at the blockage of air was all the cloud-nin was given when suddenly a jolt of extreme pain was forced upon him when he felt the boy suddenly pierce his eyes out.

Screaming at the pain and overflowing shock of fear for not being able to see nor light nor color, the man fell to the ground, dropping his katana and covering the bleeding eyes with both hands.

Naruto stepped forward and picked the forgotten katana from the ground.

The whimpering man abruptly silenced himself once he heard the sound of metal brush against the small rocks on the ground as it was picked up. Chocking a silent sob, he quickly shot up to his feet and tried to run away, ignoring all the bent roots and holes under his feet, he miserably tried to get as far away as he could.

Naruto kept a lock on his running target, but stood still as if debating with himself …for there was something else that suddenly increased his burning will – something in about three-and-a-half miles to the West.

Narrowing his brows and concentrating on the target, Naruto tightly clenched the handle of the enemy's katana, brought it behind his back and with a swing he threw it with all his strength at the cloud-nin who was currently running away from him…

…however, that was not Naruto's real target, but rather an excuse of unwanted attention later on…

The katana sightlessly pierced through the cloud-ninja, killing him once it went through his heart like a bullet, however it didn't even dare to halt but kept speeding madly father-farther ahead…

* * *

Glancing to the side, Minato caught a light beam shine not-too-far away… until that beam was replaced with a madly dashing blade right towards him…

Minato's eyes couldn't even manage to widen as a dash of sharp metal ran two-centimeters pass his neck, scratching it from the sharp pressure of the wind, cutting a few strands of his blond-hair, and loudly crashed right to the tree behind his back.

Wincing at the sudden cut on his flesh that made its presence known only after, the elder-blond turned to stare at the sinful blade… and his eyes widened even more when the gaze landed on a dead-body of his enemy pinned to the tree by that long blade that was now stabbed almost till the end of its handle into the dead-man's throat.

"Sir! You okay?!" four uptight Anbu appeared around the elder-blond, examining their leader after eyeing their surroundings, and finally the dead-man by the bole.

'_That would have been the end of me.'_ thought Minato, eyeing the man who was mere inches away from killing him. Touching the scratch with his right hand, Minato glanced around, wondering who supposedly saved his life?!

* * *

Frowning, Naruto snarled to himself, "Tch… I missed."

Spinning then around, Naruto jumped to the high-branches and quickly darted away from the clearing filled with dead-men on the ground he finished _messing_ with.

_

* * *

_

"Sir!" uptight, a woman with long black hair and brown-red eyes abruptly appearing before the Namikaze with a bunch of other leaf-shinobi, "We have a problem!"

"What is it, Kurenai?" blinking at the newcomers, he asked for a specification.

But any answer that could have come out was interrupted by a sudden distant roar echo through the whole forest along with a little shake of the earth.

'_That's not the Rokubi…'_ Frowning, wordlessly Minato jumped up to one of the trees' very top, soon followed by everyone else who jumped on the nearby trees', balancing themselves on one foot with the other slightly crossed behind the ankle of the first.

"Sir-…" the grey-haired Anbu, who stood the closest, frowned at his leader's wide-eyed expression before also gazing at the direction the Namikaze was so shockingly staring at.

There… about nine-miles from their right on the North side from the village, they could see slowly approaching another of the nine great-beasts, roaring and crushing everything that got in its way. "Hachi-…" A second roar startled them from their left, where the third of the great beasts suddenly appeared.

'_What now?!'_ worriedly asked himself Minato looking from his left to his right. "Where are the Sannin?!" he demanded an answer, not caring who would answer.

"They're still fighting the Six-Tailed," said Kurenai, slightly fidgeting and staring between the other two of the nine great demons – the Seven-Tails and the Eight-Tails, growling and slowly but surely advancing on their target, which apparently is the village.

"Shit!" cursed to himself Minato, knowing that with only one of his slippery amphibian summons up against the claw sharp monsters… … …there might be a very petite chance of both their victory and mainly survival.

Abruptly a hawk landed onto his shoulder with a message strapped to its leg. Arching his brow, Minato untied the little piece of paper with a tiny seal on it and unrolled it…

_Minato!_

_I have a mission for you! As soon as you shall be done eliminating the threat, you must retrieve the two boys by the names of Naruto and Gaara at all cost!  
…Seems that our 'guests' are not at all that 'pure' as they let on.  
They have evacuated from the walls and are heading directly to your direction. For what purpose I'm not so sure?!  
By now they might be somewhere near you.  
You must bring them back!!_

_Sarutobi_

"Wha?!" loudly voiced confused Namikaze. _'Naruto… and Gaara…?!'_

"Sir?!" the others curiously watched his unreadable expression showing up.

Looking up from the message and ignoring everyone else, Minato stared at the approaching, yet still afar, beasts. _'Yea… like as if it would be as soon as you wish, old man! Before I will get rid of the threat, I fear all will be lost… Damn it! What should we do?!' _hardening his jaw, Minato let the bird fly away, put the note in the pocket and turned to the two of his Anbu, "Shisui! I want a full view of the parameter. See if there is more to be aware of! And tell me if there's any news about the village! Itachi! Get me the summoners! Let their subordinates take on the Rokubi. We shall try and buy you some time till then. Go!" ordered Minato and watched as the two nodded and disappeared.

For now he will just have to forget about the two 'brothers' completely…, there was just much bigger problem right now… literally and figuratively… and it was approaching fast.

_

* * *

_

Gaara stood on one of the highest trees' top, curiously staring at the distanced demons. Naruto came by and gently landed on a branch a little bit lower from him.

"What took you so long?" asked Gaara, eyeing Naruto from above and over his shoulder.

Shrugging, Naruto pulled his hands in both pockets, "Got caught up by a distraction."

Not believing in the least, Gaara however didn't bother to keep going and simply let go. "North and West…that's where the weak points are, and that's where these two are heading," sharing the discovery, informed the red-head, glancing between the main subjects of the conversation – the approaching Eight-Tailed in front of them (the North) and the Seven-Tailed on their left (the West). "It appears that the Six-Tailed was just a distraction of allurement to get the Leaf's main summons away from the defence. Shame… Even now they can't deal with one of the demons by using all of their creatures. What a disappointment." Gaara sighed and looked up at the sky, where lightning was hitting the clouds, but no drops of rain even dared to fall down.

Sighing himself in small boredom, Naruto crossed his arms and leaned against the thin bole of the tree they both stood on.

"Naruto," after some time spoke Gaara, looking back to the advancing beast on their left and catching a familiar tag shine, "that one has some kind of a strange seal-tag strapped between the eyes, just like the Six-Tailed… though I can't say the same for the Eight-Tailed, his seal doesn't seem to be taking the same effect!?"

"What kind of seal?"

"You sure know whom to _ask_…" rolling his eyes, Gaara then shook his head, "I don't know! A complex combination…"

Frowning, Naruto turned his attention to the other side where the Eight-Tailed was. Both of them stood about three miles from the Eight-Tailed (Hachibi) and thirteen miles away from the Seven-Tailed (Shichibi). "What do they look like?" curiously asked Naruto.

"What? Tags?"

"Naah…, the beasts!"

"Ever seen an ox?!" thoughtfully asked Gaara.

"I've ridden something of the sort," thoughtfully said Naruto at one of his memories when he was a Gennin and was running late at the final round of the Chunnin exam, and Konohamaru being the little shrimp he is, went on helping him to get there with his bloody 'shortcuts'. "God, I couldn't properly sit after th-…"

"Yeah…anyway, think of a giant ox with eight giant octopus like tentacles on his rear – that's approximately how the Eight-tailed looks. And the other one's a… umm… a badger…" Gaara arched a none-existing brow at the silly form of the demon, and growled silently once he heard Naruto start chuckling.

"Well Mr._ Panda_, or better yet – aka 'raccoon'…, should I leave you alone and let the _bond_ sparkle between rodents, while I and Mr. Ox there have a drink of tea?!"

"Shut up…, and let's go!" ordered the twitching red-head and jumped off the tree to land on the ground.

"Why?" grunting asked Naruto. "Let them have their fun. We can worry about what happens to the ruins tomorrow," he waved his hand dismissingly.

"Well if we won't do anything right now there might be no _tomorrow_," roared Gaara from below, his eye twitching at Naruto's indifference.

"And I care why?!" was the smart thought of Naruto's.

Grabbing a rock on the ground Gaara threw it at his friend where it smacked the poor blond to the head.

"GHhaa… … …UUfff!" the poor Naruto painfully fell down from the fifteen-meter high tree.

'_He is such a klutz sometimes,' _Gaara sweat-drop.

_

* * *

_

Pushing against another branch of the tree, 'brothers' approached the ox from the Northern-west side.

Finally coming to a stop on a thick branch, Gaara glanced up and jumped to the very top of the tree to inspect their location. It appeared they came about a mile away from the Eight-Tails, who abruptly stopped.

Knitting his eyes, Gaara halt his breath as the demon took a big whiff of air. An aggressive growl was followed and the ox abruptly changed his course – heading straight towards them.

"Hello _'brother'_," down below, Naruto smirked at the challenging growl his fellow demon was giving out once the presence of their scent came to his sense.

Slowly, he outstretched his left-arm – small balls of red and blue chakra appeared under the palm (calmly floating in the air). Bending then his outstretched digits, he let the chakra-balls merge into one big purple ball (the size of a fist).

With that done, he withdrew his arm away from the floating chakra-ball and took a small step back before jumping in the air and, with a swinging turn, kicked the chakra-ball with his foot at the Hachibi's direction (like a soccer-ball, approximately).

The chakra-ball dashed threw the forest, making deep burning holes in every tree it got in its way… when finally the target was reached…

_

* * *

_

**BOOOOOOM!!!**

A mass of explosion erupted about three-miles away from the group of running Konoha shinobi. Startled, all of them blinked as the sudden wave of after explosion caught them by surprise and forced them off balance, knocking to the ground. A loud and seemingly painful holler of the beast was followed by a fall that shook the earth.

"What on earth was that?!" bewildered, Minato shot up to his feet and jumped up the top of the tree. His eyes widened as he caught the sight of a massive cloud of the aweigh dust in the middle of one and a half mile diameter clearing and a demon lying all blooded on the ground, apparently struggling to even pull one of its tails up.

Daring not to take his eyes off the sight he ignored the gasps of other bemused shinobi, who were looking agape at the sight as well, and took off to the seen direction.

_

* * *

_

Letting the strongest of sand (that shielded them away from the blast) sink back into the ground, revealing untouched 'brothers' standing on the now huge clearing (courtesy of a certain blond) with a straight view to a demon in pain, Gaara blinked slowly as the grumbling Hachibi stood up, growling with a small groan before his feet gave out again and he fell back, shaking the ground and letting his displeasure be known by a loud howl.

"I think you angered it," after a moment of silence Gaara thought out flatly.

"You think!?" sarcastically hummed Naruto when the demon finally managed to stand up and utter a loud aggressive roar, shaking the ground and air.

Gaara abruptly blinked as the presence of the shinobi started to close in on them, "Conceal your demonic strength, they're almost here!"

Grunting something out, Naruto did as was told. "Why does everyone always gets in my way?"

"Don't complain!" smirked Gaara.

Finally spotting the cause of his pain, the ox snorted and opened his mouth – a similar chakra like ball Naruto used a moment ago, was formed before the Eight-Tails' snout, jet it sure looked way bigger.

Distracted by the closing presence of the leaf-nins, 'brothers' were abruptly cut off as the ox roared and the chakra ball exploded – shooting the burning flame like force at their direction.

"Duck!" shouted Gaara and jumped aside.

"Where? Ha-ha… Get it?! OOFFFffff…" laughed the blond before he was directly hit with a burning mass of chakra that sent him flying almost to the next Tuesday… or say six miles away from his previous spot.

_

* * *

_

"Move!!" shouted, one of the wide-eyed Anbu, as a dash off abrupt blast was shot out of the clearing and went right pass them as they ran out of the way.

Once the mass of burning chakra passed them, heaving (almost ripping) their hair out at the forced wind, all quickly turned and stared down the five mile burned path where something (or rather someone) crushed to the ground.

Giving them no time to witness what it was, all of them were abruptly interrupted by the beast's growl and the second blast, which unfortunately went straight at them, since they found themselves on the newly made road which led to the clearing and the beast which caught its eyes on them.

"Oh crap…," covering their eyes, all of them prepared for the encounter of the massive hit for there was no time to dodge such a mass…

**BOOOOM!!**

The blast did go off indeed, yet once the eyes were prayed open, all they could see was a huge wall of glittering sand towering above and shielding them away.

_

* * *

_

Hissing, Naruto supported himself by his elbows and shook his head lightly, ignoring the hissing sounds of chakra healing his wounds close. "What a punch…" he thought and rubbed his head, noticing that his bandanna was gone. "The hell with it…" sighing in small pain, he struggled back up to his feet, yet fell backwards as the earth suddenly shook him off balance… Hissing at the sore bottom he landed on, Naruto abruptly froze as he felt a rather disturbing presence not too far off. Turning around he cursed and rolled out of the way as a giant foot nearly stepped on him.

'_Oh _joy_… the Shichibi!'_

Leaning over, the Seven-Tailed roared at him, making the blond fall back from the forced wind to the ground. Diving deeper down, the badger opened its saliva full mouth, parting out sharp teeth.

"Don't you dare!!" growled Naruto at the seemingly hungry demon and grabbed some sort of a sharp thing poking his left-hand to harshly scratch at the beast's nose. The demon yelped at the painfully deep wound and stepped back.

Fingering the thing that he just found, Naruto frowned at the weird shape of the three-edged kunai before jumping off the ground and on the tree as the beast tried to squish him again and growled with displeasure once it missed.

Ducking from a large tail sent at him, Naruto failed to notice the other on heading from the other side. "Uuuff…" crushing to the ground, Naruto rolled onto his stomach and scrambled quickly away before the demon could jump on him.

"Crap!!" cursed the blond, "Whatever did I do to deserve this?" Ducking and jumping up again, Naruto dodged the gigantic claws, "Fighting with my human chakra against it will be an insult…, but if I will force my demonic chakra out and free again…the shinobi will momentarily sense it… and if I am to be stuck here I don't want to spend the rest of my life in this bloody dimension running away as a missing-monster of reward to anyone who catches it. Damn it!!" storming away, Naruto merely dodged the beast's burning chakra-like-blast it shot out of its mouth.

Landing back to his feet, Naruto quickly took off into the forest behind the demon, taking the formed dust from the blast to his advantage.

Growling out, the beast snorted as it lost the sight of the small creature.

Thankful to leaf-trees (the once that are still standing that is) and concealing his chakra away completely, Naruto stopped at a thick branch and squatted down, heaving small whiffs of air in and out, and silently listened as the beast searched for him.

Flinching a little at the lightning that struck the sky, Naruto sighed in annoyance and fixed the found kunai by the hip, all the way wondering how he got in this whole situation in the first place. "Man this sucks…" Perking up at the Seven-Tails now distant growl, Naruto frowned, _'Apparently it gave up hope on searching and proceeded to the village…'_

Playing with his fingers, Naruto then thought what he should do, _'Well I certainly won't mind if the badger would destroy the village, yet…'_ the blond's thoughts trailed off at his once-happy memories he ever held for this village: the approval… all his friends… the determination…. Running his hands through his hair, Naruto sighed again and straightened to stand up.

The village was far away, but Naruto could easily hear and smell the horror in people screams. One of those yells particularly made his ears twitch, and Naruto stopped still…listening and remembering everything it once referred to …a small boy. All memories of happiness suddenly burned to ashes… A scowl came to his face and he snarled, turning his back to the beast and in the process to the village – a gesture he thought he would never even think of doing when he was little. _''Hmph!' They can take care of themselves just fine!'_

Taking the first step away… _finally_ away from the bonded walls of the village…, Naruto suddenly gasped and stopped as a mass of familiar pain went to his veins – as if threatening to rip them open if he takes the wrong move. "W…w-what?! …n-no…" shaking his head, he forced a second step, which made him yelp and fall to his knees as the veins of his shanks literally tore open. "No!!" trying to crawl away, Naruto gasped again and quickly clenched his head where painful sounds of sudden screams were forced into his mind. "…n-nghhh… this c…can't be…" fidgeting, he arched and screamed to the whole forest as the pain increased. "AAAAAHhhhhhh…" A feeling of muscle tearing up made him cough in his shouts; grabbing his upper-right-arm where the inner rip was made, Naruto let his body fall back, but he accidentally lost the balance and fell of the forgotten tree-branch, hitting the ground hard. "GHAa!!" coughing out a gush of blood, he rolled to the side and took a shaking breath to try and calm down as sounds of agony slowly distanced themselves away from his head.

"N…n-no… w-way … it's not p-possible…" clenching his arm tighter, Naruto knitted his brows at the pain. "T…the c-contract…" hissing he took a shuddering breath and shouted out in anger, "That God forsaken contraaaact…!!"

_

* * *

_

A distant scream perked on Gaara's sensitive ears, "I know that pain…!" distracted by a sudden blast, Gaara narrowed his eyes and looked down at Konoha's shinobi trying to fight of the Eight-Tailed ox, who seemed to be more interested in finding the lost red-head. While that same red-head silently stood a top of the high, afar mountain, refusing to show himself any more than the mysterious sand that saves quite confused leaf-nins once and a while.

'_Naruto…'_

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* * *

_

A light but deeply cold chuckle of the shaking form on the ground echoed through the threes…. "So it's gonna be like that huh?" Naruto lay on his back, patiently awaiting the pain to retreat while listening to the thunder above and three of the still undefeated beasts roar their compliments to the sky.

With the last of the major wounds healing close, Naruto slowly sat up, the cold amusement never leaving his throat, "Who would have thought?!" he laughed before sighing, trying to exhale all of his anxiety out and accept the fate. Shaking his head, he stood up.

Balancing himself on the wobbly feet, Naruto finally straightened up and slowly formed a small smirk, "Well… Since I am so desperately _bonded _to this 'home' of mine…I guess it can't be helped." Brushing the dirt out of his hands, Naruto spoke to the air, "You know… I always liked the saying Kyuubi once used… now what was it?!…?!…Ah…of course – _there is no gain without the sacrifice you must make_. … And what a shame it would be… if I _accidentally_…," chuckling a little and keeping the secret in, Naruto jumped up and balanced himself atop of the high tree, sniffing the air for his lost 'friend' – the Seven-Tailed. "There you are!" the smirk grew and Naruto jumped back down, landing to the ground with a heavy foot. "Well Shichibi… I must say it's a shame really…" grabbing the rag that once was his shirt, he ripped it off of his body and tore off a small fabric – tying it around his still healing upper-arm's muscle and dropping the remains carelessly down in the dirt. "…I would be more than glad to fight you with equal terms, yet …as I already mentioned…I dare not risk my ass for more _experiments_. But then again… who am I to break the ancient tradition?! …Demon against demon you say?" kneeling down, Naruto formed a quick set of hand-signs, _'Come out and play…'_ and smirking he slammed his cut hand to the ground.

_

* * *

_

"Hey, Itachi… is it me…or do I see the resemblance?!" smirked a black clad Anbu standing on a high mountain with the companion by his side.

Itachi didn't even utter a single word, yet his eyes flashed out before bleeding into the darkest of red at the person in their sight, _'Na-ru-to.'_

_

* * *

_

Higher on that very same mountain, Gaara lightly shook his head. "What have you done brother," he sighed, looking as the eight-miles away appeared smoke disappeared by the light swings of nine grand tails – revealing a part of the barrier they've hidden so far. _'No question…as soon as the fight is over… we are one the run,'_ Gaara said to himself and turned around, taking one last glimpse at the two preoccupied witnesses standing practically five-meters underneath him.

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* * *

_

Naruto was facing the sky, enjoying the whispers of wind that ran through his hair as he sat on the furry head of the known fox while resting his left-arm on the bent knee.

The fox-demon slowly opened his eyes and calmly blinked. "Shichibi… who would have guessed that you would sunk so low as to be caught in the clenches of the _Lightning_!?" spoke a low, deep voice of the summoned Nine-Tailed as his gaze landed directly on the Seven-Tailed demon, who turned once the summon was executed and bared its teeth at the superior, appearing about one kilometer away.

"Hello Kyuubi," emotionlessly greeted Naruto.

The demon arched a brow at the voice above his head. For a moment he didn't even recognize it. "Whatever do you want, Naruto?!" asked the fox, looking at the glaring but still unmoving Shichibi.

"A favor… Will you assist?"

"Protect Konoha?" Arching his brow at the emotionless voice Naruto used, Kyuubi curiously asked, "I think the question 'is'…do _you_ really want it?!"

"…" The blond lowered his head and clenched his right upper-arm's healing muscle. "I don't have a choice," he whispered.

Frowning, Kyuubi didn't pressure further and changed the theme. "Tell me… did you see a group of shinobi upholding a jutsu?" he asked studying the beast out front.

"I've broken some kind of a circle about ten miles from here… does that have to do with anything?"

"What did the sign of the circle's middle show? What did it say?"

"I don't know… I couldn't see."

Kyuubi blinked at the words and brought one of his tails up, picking Naruto by his loose right-arm.

Wincing at the still unhealed muscle, Naruto didn't protest and let the fox bring him in front of himself to see his face.

"You're blind," was the spoken statement of Kyuubi's discovery.

Naruto just hang there by the arm, before deciding to simply change the annoying subject. "Gaara mentioned something about a tag between the demons' eyes… what is it?"

Glancing lazily pass Naruto at the Seven-Tailed, Kyuubi once more looked at the yellow tag shine. "The tag is a seal, which humans put on demons to control their chakra and obey under their will. And to confirm that circle you said you ruined – was one of those who upheld one of the demons to their submission. But apparently since the badger over there is still under a rather dull pressure, I'm guessing that means that you broke the seal of another beast!? Where are the other two?" sharing his knowledge Kyuubi looked back at Naruto and asked about the other demons he knew were here.

"Hachibi's with Gaara and Rokubi's with the Sannin," emotionlessly said the blond, feeling his hand go numb for hanging so long. "What will happen if the seal is broken?"

"Hm…, you would wish it to be rather comprised or tore off than broken," smirked the fox and placed the blond back on his head. "If you tear of the seal from the demon's forehead – you will take away more than a half of his whole chakra which is upheld in that _special_ little tag. It may look small, however you can't imagine the power it can submit us to."

"But whose seal did I break then?"

"We'll just have to figure that out later…" widening his smirk, Kyuubi suddenly took off running straight at the Seven-Tailed who responded with an affirmative growl before doing the same.

Naruto cursed the demon for not giving him the heads up and grabbed a fistful of fur to hold onto.

The two beasts ran right into each other. Shichibi yelped as Kyuubi momentarily bit him straight into the neck, leaving a bloody painful mark.

"Bloody vulture…" thoughtfully growled Naruto at Kyuubi and quickly jumped off of the fox's head so neither of the demons could squish him.

Clawing at the fox's leg, the badger succeeded to roll them over and tackle Kyuubi down, clawing on his stomach and forcing him to the ground.

_

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_

"Sir… this is madness! We can't win against this! We should retreat!" shouted a lightly bloodied grey-haired Anbu landing not too far from the aggressive beast they tried to stop with all of the jutsus they knew and weaponry they had.

"Tch… retreat where?!" Minato jumped as the demon tried to smack him with its slippery tail. Grabbing his kunai in one hand he wriggled it around before throwing with all his might at the beast's round eye – stabbing it.

A painful holler was voiced and Hachibi growled, shooting a chakra-like-blast at him and the group of leaf-nins behind…

…All of them were suddenly forcefully pushed out of the way by that strange sand.

The blast landed in the clear.

Awakening in the middle of the dusted area, all ninjas blinked as the beast suddenly uttered his first words. "You finally came out…" a cold chuckle was skipping Hachibi's throat.

Hissing at the light pain, Minato sat up and widely blinked at the form that was presented after the dust cleared out.

"Gaara…?! …What are you doing?" shock came to Namikaze's features when he saw a familiar red-head facing the ox.

'_Is that boy mad?'_

Ignoring Namikaze's words, Gaara 'Hn'-ed and quickly started a complicated set of one-arm hand-sings and slammed his right hand onto the ground – thousands of huge sand-needles shot out of the ground, piercing the demon's upper-palms and scratching the stomach; Gaara would've have him pierced completely if Hachibi wouldn't have jumped out of the way.

Minato stared with wide-eyes and lightly agape mouth as the young boy unleashed incredible amounts of power he could only dream of ever learning to contain at the boy's age.

Shaking away the pain, the beast growled and stormed at the red-head.

Making a new set of signs, Gaara caught Hachibi with the sand as it abruptly turned into mud underneath and sank the demon's feet in.

"What??!" cursing, the ox struggled to get free, before his eyes widened as another huge sand-strong needle shot out from in front of him. Squirming to the side, he managed to bit it broke with his teeth before it could go through his skull.

Gritting sharp teeth, he roared and shot a blast from his mouth at the red-head, who went wide-eyed, as he didn't anticipate for it to go off so fast, and quickly commanded the sand to shield all of the leaf-nins, but he went as so far as to weakly cover them up before receiving the full punch on himself.

_

* * *

_

Perked on a tree, Naruto curiously turned to the right where another blast was heard and he could sense Gaara's chakra leaking slowly out, yet not till their full strength.

A shake of the earth made him jerk back to where Kyuubi and Shichibi were fighting their bloodlust out. Suddenly they parted out…

"There!" finally finding a moment to interfere, Naruto pushed out of the tree and shoot up high in the air. Gathering chakra to his feet he forcefully landed on the standing Shichibi's head with a heavy foot, which made the demon go down and hit the ground with his jaw from the heavy chakra pressure.

The dazed beast gave Naruto enough time to rip the seal from between his eyes and burn it in his hands. Distancing himself from the badger, Naruto curiously and somewhat shockingly listened at the lying demon's tired groans and whimpers…like if it was dying. "All that power… surpassed by a mere _tag_?!" Shiver came to the blond's backbone at the thought of that seal-tag… he just couldn't believe the power it could submit above the demon.

Stepping over the small blond, Kyuubi came to tower completely above the dazed demon. Leaning then down, he bit the badger's left-shoulder and with a low hiss the Seven-Tailed disappeared.

_

* * *

_

A groan came pass his blooded lips as he finally prayed his blue-eyes open. The sand helped him to survive the critical condition, yet the damage still was quite painful.

A fogged form of the ox like creature was laughing at him. Looking around, Minato blinked at the lying forms of his heavily breathing men, while his mind wondered to the red-head, _'Where's the boy?'_ Clenching the dirt, he hissed at the burning sides of his body and slowly sat up.

Another cold laugh came to his ears, "Still alive, ey? You didn't have enough?" asked the beast to the struggling man on the dirt, before opening its mouth and displaying small balls of dark chakra merging into one big one atop of its nostril… and he shot it…

Blue eyes widened, at the massive force of the shot…

…Yet it didn't came to the full punch because it was suddenly blocked with the same kind of a blast that collided against the Eight-Tails' – making a giant explosion in process.

**BOOOOOM!!**

Shinobi of Konoha crushed to the ground from the explosion's forceful kick.

Hissing the blond-haired Namikaze forced himself to stand back to his feet. Mindless of one of his men who was desperately trying to get his attention…

"Umm… S-sir!?" slightly fidgeting form of a brown-haired leaf-nin sitting by his side tried to form the right words.

"What?" exhaling a painful and slightly annoyed sigh, Minato finally looked down at the man…only to blink and gaze up where the brown-haired was so warily staring at.

A dark shadow was looming above the twenty of the shinobi who abruptly forgot how to breathe. The shadow had four huge paws for its support and nine grand tails calmly swinging in the back. All eyes widened at the presence of the Nine-Tailed-Demon-Fox.

Awkwardly, yet still carefully and slowly, they scrambled backwards and out from under the gigantic demon's towering body.

Turning to look behind him, Kyuubi gritted his teeth at the group of confused ninjas leering before smacking them away with a not too light wave of his tail.

Landing back on the ground, the dumbfounded men stared agape as the demon proceeded forward to the Eight-Tailed, leaving them to wonder _what a Hell just happened?!_

"Nee…Minato-sama… you don't look too good," amused, suddenly came a voice of one of the two appearing Anbu, signaling the others their arrival.

Minato send him a glare, "Can it, Shisui! What do you bring?"

"The latest news," chirped the long, black-haired Anbu.

"If the Nine-Tails is your so called _'latest news'_…" Namikaze hissed, making the younger awkwardly scratch his neck and chuckle lightly. "…I will hang you by your hair from that demon's fang."

"Naa-naa…that's not like that!" waving his hands defensively, tried to reason lightly sweaty Shisui, "You see… while I was running through water and fire just to give in this super-ultra-secret report, I saw an old-lad- GHAA…" he didn't get to finish his story as the angered Minato walked over and punched him on the head.

"I EXPECT TO KNOW THE CLEAR INFORMATION ON TIME, NOT BEFORE IT COMES TO ME OUT OF THE BLUE, YOU IDIOT!" growled Minato.

"Oww uncle …you hit hard," whining, Shisui straightened up and rubbed his head.

"Seriously…" sighing, Minato rubbed his forehead before turning to the other one, "Itachi! Where are they? What's with the Six-Tailed?"

"Sannin are heading this way as we speak. The Rokubi is in the hands of their subordinates now. Unfortunately, Tsunade-sama was rather badly injured and therefore will be in no condition of asset."

"What's with the village?" the blond turned back to the slightly taller Anbu.

"So far there is no action. The _lightning_ has cleared the area without a trace, leaving everything in the hands of the presented," nodding towards the demons replied Shisui, putting back a serious face.

Narrowing his brows, Minato turned to look at the fox-demon slowly approaching the ox, which finally managed to free himself from the hardened sand around his feet. _'What is it going to do?!' _he wondered.

"Should we be worried about the Nine-Tailed?" curiously asked Kurenai.

"Not as far as I'm concerned." answered Shisui, crossing his arms.

Minato knit his brows and turned to glare at him, "What do you mean?!" he demanded an explanation.

"The Nine-Tailed defeated Shichibi." proudly replied the young Uchiha, bringing gasps from everyone around.

"Great…" sarcastically hissed the blond, "Is there anything else that you haven't yet told me?" Minato growled, wishing to hang Shisui for not informing him straight away of such important things.

Laughing nervously, Shisui tried to form a sentence, yet Itachi cut in, bringing attention to himself. "No…" was the lack of emotion answer, "However… there is a case _you_ still haven't informed us about, Namikaze-sama." He sounded displeased and slightly angered.

Looking at Itachi from the corner of his eye, Minato arched a brow, "Which is…?"

"…" looking at his leader intently, the ebony-haired handed him a small piece of paper instead of an answer.

Frowning, Minato took the paper and read the content he was already familiar with, _'It's Sarutobi's… Must have slipped from out of my pocket…' _Narrowing his brows, Minato's mind suddenly fogged at one disturbing line, stopping by a certain name – _'Gaara'_… His jaw hardened as his teacher's words finally sank in… - the process of the red-head's display being the perfect proof to all that. All that was left now was to confront the second of brothers…

"You needn't search far, Namikaze-sama…"

Glancing at Itachi, who turned his head to the now distanced demons' direction, Minato blinked and followed his gaze. And there _he_ was – sitting proudly atop of the most fearsome of the demons. _'Naruto…'_

"_Pure _they sure as Hell seemed to be," whispered Minato kneading the small paper into his palm before opening it and watching with a frown as the wind stole the little pieces of shred paper, he tore with his chakra, being picked up in the air.

_

* * *

_

Naruto felt a strange breeze pass him and arched a curious brow as a weird swirl of wind led some kind of shred papers fly around and then pass him.

"Weee-heh-_Hell_…if it isn't my most favorite acquaintance… - …Kyuubi!?" the amusing voice of Hachibi brought Naruto back to reality.

"Hachibi… …can't say I'm pleased," retorted Kyuubi, glaring at the advancing demon that stopped in front of his nose.

"Come now foxy… is this really any way to greet your old friend?" leaning over the Eight-Tailed widened his smirk, mindless of saliva falling from in between his teeth, much to Kyuubi's annoyance.

"Mind your words, _bull_… I'm in no mood to spare you a second life."

Snorting through his nose, Hachibi growled… yet he abruptly blinked as his safe eye caught the sight of a blond boy. The smirk came back. "Well-well, what do we have here?" he chuckled while slowly circling around the fox-demon, studying the small sitting form. "My-my Kyuubi… you are so full of surprises… and I so do love surprises… 'pleasant' if you ask me?! Oh yeah – most defiantly. But tell me… Since when did you had a child of such interest?!"

"It's confidential to talk out loud, Hachibi," Kyuubi narrowed his eyes but allowed the curious demon to lean over and take a good whiff of the blond-boy's scent.

"Aa… confidential talk it would be…indeed…" chuckled Hachibi, walking around to stand back in front of the fox. "So that's the brat?" he asked grinning, saving the smell of powerful blood running in the boy's veins that made him want to lose control and go almost crazy.

"The name's Naruto, _octopus-brain_," finally snarled Naruto.

"Don't bite your tongue! That's Mr. Ox to you, shrimp," hissed the ox-demon at the puny human.

"Don't toy with the boy, Hachibi. I might have told you about him, but you don't know 'anything'," warned the fox, looking the ox in the eye.

"Why do you care?!" the ox-demon hissed, stepping a little bit back. "… …Anyway it's out of place now! …For we have a score to settle!" the Eight-Tailed suddenly growled and leaped straight onto the fox-demon that quickly ran out of the way and let the beast land onto nothing.

Growling, Hachibi turned around and was greeted with a claw to the face. Kyuubi roared and tackled the beast himself.

The confused and shocked shinobi stared as the two demons abruptly started to scuffle.

"It's not safe here anymore! Sir! We must leave!" urged frowning Kurenai and leaped to the safety of the nearest mountain with the other nins quickly following.

Reluctantly, Minato turned to jump away, yet not before shooting one more look at Naruto, "This isn't over…" he hissed and jumped away.

Itachi and Shisui exchanged glances before nodding and following their leader.

Gaara jumped right in after the leaf-nins left and narrowed his eyes at the demons trying to rip each other's throats. "What a pain…" he sighed and ran off.

Mindless to the two demon-blooded creatures, they were slowly leading their fight closer and closer to the village, much to somebody's delight.

Now they were about a mile away from the Northern-east walls…

Finally Hachibi managed to tackle Kyuubi down, Naruto jumped off of Kyuubi's head and landed on a lonesome tree standing. Gaara's scent suddenly caught his nose and he could feel him form a _demon-line _to shoot at the ox. Narrowing his brows, he did the same and shot his chakra two seconds before the red-head.

The ox roared as a sudden red-chakra pushed him roughly to the ground, and blinked as he saw another line of chakra, but yellow, shot pass him.

**BOOOM!!**

It landed right on the village's Northern-east wall, destroying it.

Naruto smirked, while Gaara turned his glare at the person he knew who was behind this.

"You must be losing your touch, Gaara!" snickered Naruto; jumping to the clearing from the tree, he straightened out his left-arm – forming a dark-purple chakra-ball. "Watch this!" he smirked and kicked the floating chakra-ball with his fist.

The smirking demon ducked from the predicted shot. "You're out of your aim with that sight of yours, boy."

"Am I?" arching his brow smirked Naruto and listened as the ball flew pass Gaara's not-too-long-ago destructed sides of the wall and into the village, where it exploded – destroying one third of the whole area.

Gaara blinked his wide-eyes away and glared at utterly proud Naruto. "What do you think you're doing, Naruto?!" he growled threateningly.

"I'm protecting the village," smiled Naruto shrugging his shoulders.

Gazing around at the ruins, Gaara gave Naruto an annoying look.

"What?!" questioned Naruto, sensing the aura.

Hachibi only laughed, "My-my Naruto… is it me? Or are you a treacherous-spy of the Lightning?"

Naruto scowled at that, "Guess again!" he growled and abruptly rushed at the demon.

"What do you think you're doing?" growled the slightly startled ox, as Naruto suddenly jumped onto his snot.

Naruto frowned and deeply scratched at Hachibi's snot with his claws that glowed black. "I'm poisoning you!" hissed the blond and grabbed hold of the tag.

"Don't you dare!" Hachibi hissed and tried to grab the blond, yet Kyuubi abruptly bit him at his throat from the back and forced him back down with his heavy body.

Naruto ripped the tag off.

The ox roared in pain of the poison that shot through him once the protecting shelled of his power and strength was ripped out.

"T…take it away…" hissed the Eight-Tailed for the blond to make the pain stop.

Kyuubi lay fully on top of the Hachibi, holding his one paw atop of the bull's head to steady his movements while curiously watching the three-scratch wound on the demon's snot burn the flesh at the sides and forbid it to heal close.

Naruto burned the tag in his hand and walked back over the scratch he implied.

"Take it away, I said!!" growled Hachibi in pain.

Naruto stuck three nails in each scratch and summoned the poison back and away from the beast's body. Once the process was done, Hachibi watched with tired expression as the wound healed close. Turning then lazily to gaze at Naruto who jumped off him and landed by the cross-armed red-head on the ground, he looked them over before grunting in deep and somewhat annoyed voice, "This is insufferable! Our fight didn't go according to the free will of _our_ tradition… I was _deceived_. And _you_ two were holding back… May I ask why?"

"The walls are thin," emotionlessly answered Gaara.

"Ahh…ha-ha-haaa… I see that even the all too 'powerful' _half-breeds_ have some fearful secrets to hide from curious eyes, no?!" asked lightly smirking Hachibi. "What's wrong? Life in the lab gave the _rats_ a fright?"

Naruto flinched at the words while Gaara send the demon a nasty glare.

Distant rustle of leafs abruptly made the four 'demons'' ears perk up.

"We have a Hell to face now…" emotionlessly informed Gaara to his best-friend as he sensed the rage of Konoha shinobi heading towards them.

"Aa…" with the same emotionless voice confirmed Naruto before turning to the demons. "We'll be leaving now Kyuubi."

"I'll be taking the Tails," informed Kyuubi, glancing down at the groaning Hachibi.

The blond gave a short nod.

The fox then looked back at the blond and suddenly uttered out, "On the ninth day starting from today…I expect you to summon me, boy! …But now, run…"

Naruto arched a brow, yet gave another nod anyway.

Without another word Kyuubi vanished with the best beneath him, creating a forceful kick of the disappearing dust, blinding everything around.

"Come on! We don't have much time," urged Gaara and turned away from the village.

Taking the formed dust to their advantage, the 'brothers' quickly jumped to the trees. Gaining distance, both lightly sighed as they sense the shinobi of the Leaf halt in the clearing where the two demons just were.

Smirking, Naruto pushed harder from the branch and jumped in the air. _'Fools…' _he laughed in his mind, but suddenly gasped as thin strings of wire were shot out from every direction and entwined around his and Gaara's bodies – tying hands to the sides and ankles together.

Falling back to the ground on their backs, both slightly hissed at the light pain.

Opening his eyes, Gaara glared at the four standing Anbu in front of them holding the strings.

Groaning, Naruto took a sitting position and slightly scowled as the unwanted presence suddenly jumped between the quiet, yet full of murderess intent standing Anbu.

"What is the meaning of this?!" demanded the Namikaze, as he glared at the two boys.

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_A/N_

_**è **__Replies to chp#11 reviews:_

hentai18ancilla – Itachi & Naruto will have some competitional issues during the fic., they will have a hard time getting along and accepting each other (not exactly like with Sasuke & Naruto… but barely) until the event… XD

black-ice-alchemist – it's alright; you can picture Naruto whatever the way you want… I just like long-hairs XD

As for Sasuke – he shall meet him on the next chapter;))

greeneboy313 – thanx! That's a real relief;))

-siarafaerie-101-miss – I guess we can't help it… after all …we're only human;)) For the past year all I did was sleep & laze around XP

Thank ya!!;)

-emerald jaguar- – well…yeah… Shukaku does understand Gaara …but I don't think that after you will know the role Shukaku is playing in this fic. I don't think you would want him to become Gaara's second half after that. Let's just say – Shukaku & Kyuubi would be very old for Gaara. Sorry again, but big thanks anyway!!;))

Kamerreon – thank you very much! XD

BrokenBloodDrops – yes, he will…, but if you want I can change that!? XD

Eovin – Wow! So many questions… Did I really cause all that?! Well…I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens!;)) Thanx for reviews – all of them!! XD

_**è **__Thanx for all the previous chapter reviewers –_ Eovin; -siarafaerie-101-miss; BrokenBloodDrops; greeneboy313; PirateCaptainBo; Kamerreon; EdSpikeSesshyGirl; enchanted nightingale; Piggy Kun; dashllee; -emerald jaguar-; black-ice-alchemist; hentai18ancilla.

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	13. Chapter 13

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'_**Chapter 13'**_

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_A/N –__well what do you know… appears that it will turn out to be 5chp-s of battle instead of 3… God, this is embarrassing… sorry XP_

_((I have all of the events already summarized in my mind, yet on the page it ended up more than I predicted. Such a drag…))_

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Naruto breathed repeatedly as his blood heat up and the mind wondered off to the far search of shortly forgotten lust for vengeance – the control was slowly breaking…

"It's been nearly a full month… a _month_ since I dared welcome you to this village with opened arms, putting my _whole_ trust in your hands… And now what is this?! Deceit? Lies? Infidelity? … …You two deceived the _trust_ of the village, the _loyalty_ for its people… and the _bond_ with the nation… Incompetence! Is there a purpose for you in here? Speak!! What _more_ are you hiding?!" Gaara shadowed his eyes under the red-strands of his hear in order to hide the anger that was slowly gained cause of Namikaze's dirty words.

Glaring at the silent teens, Minato took a hard breath. "What are your intentions?" he asked his voice deep and threatening.

The 'brothers' frowned and lowered their heads deeper into their shoulders to hid the blazing eyes of that of a killer under the long bangs.

"I'm asking the last time…and for your own sake you better answer…" Minato growled silently, trying to keep his cool, "What…are your intentions towards the village?!"

Naruto took a shuddering breath, he felt tired and weak against the lust that was tempting enough to send him into the rampage at any moment now… _'Kill… kill…'_ it was unbearable… He let out a sudden gasp as the strings around his arms tightened and the lines sunk a bit deeper in his flash.

"Answer the question!" Naruto felt sick – at the gestures and the pain that shot at him as the newly healed muscle was ripped open again from the pressure. Still…from some point he just wanted to laugh, for it was his former 'teacher' Kakashi spitting at him and tightening the wires along with equally glaring _former_-foe – Uchiha – that held him.

Gritting his teeth and mindless to the satisfaction he gave to the Anbu, Naruto bit out, "…I have n-no…obligation… to answer… _him…_" The venomous words only angered the Anbu more. The thin wires tightened – cutting into his skin and compressing the bare muscles' flesh; a colorful line of the boy's blood gushed out from the deep wounds and crawled by the wires – coloring them.

"Enough!" said the Namikaze eyeing the deep cuts emerging on the boy's upper-arms.

Hesitantly, the two disapproving Anbu holding the blond loosened their hold, making the teen calmly sigh through his nose but otherwise show no emotion of pain he already got, which annoyed them to no end.

Gaara kept glaring at the floor while listening to the angry heaves of air coming from the masked Anbu that were about to snap if what. He didn't want to say anything…what would he say?! It was too difficult to explain in two-tree words…especially right after the fight. He just didn't want to deal with all this right now.

Furrowing his brows deeper, Minato turned to look at the blond. _'The boy is having something against me… even from the very start… All those gestures… attempts… they weren't mere accidents – he _wanted_ to kill me. But with such power I wonder why didn't he already!?…?!' _switching then his gaze to the red-head, Minato mindedly figured, _'It must be _him_…he is suppressing Naruto…(if it really is his real name?!), but why?!' _forming his lips in a thin line, Minato turned his eyes to the right corner where his village could be faintly seen. _'Apparently they had no intentions to destroy the village…that's for sure…or is it?!; anyway there is a purpose for their presence here…, but what? What is it?!' _looking back at the _fugitives _he sighed and rubbed his forehead, _'Pointless…never mind that now…it doesn't seem like they will speak. The best thing is to get them back to the village and put them under interrogation group. And Gennou… I will have a _long_ talk with you afterwards…'_

Finally, what seemed like hours, Namikaze spoke out, "Fine…" he hissed through his teeth, "Since you will not tell me anything else…, then I have no choice but to take you in and put you under custod-…"

The mere thought to be put in four-wall-seal room made Naruto's blood run cold. "For what?" losing his cool, finally he yelled out, "Saving your _worthless_ liv-…?!"

"For trespassing and intruding!!" Namikaze roared back just as angrily, cutting him at the final word. "Not to mention hiding the true identity of one's selves…, thus insulting the village of your disloyalty at its approving generosity. Even if you _did _save the Leaf village…nether the less what makes you think I would _believe_ that you are still not a traitorous spy of other villages?!" Minato clenched his fist, remembering the time when the two boys firstly stepped foot into his office; he felt so enraged now. "You shall face the punishment once we get back to Konohagakure." Glaring at the boys for the last time, Minato turned to his men, "Let's move out!" he grimly said from the anger that he felt at the two liars, and took off, expecting the others to grab the boys and follow him.

Naruto lowered his head, while Gaara frowned as the rather satisfied with the teens' punishment Anbu started approaching them.

'_The Hell with this!'_ Suddenly a mass of sand came out of the ground by the boys' feet and viciously slammed the bemused Anbu, kicking them away from the two teens.

Gritting their teeth, Gaara and Naruto quickly forced their both hands apart, breaking the strong strings around the arms, and with swift move cut the strings by the ankles with sharp nails that appeared from the unleashed outburst of released chakra that's been concealed up till now.

Standing up, both jumped up to the trees and dashed to the opposite direction from where the Anbu fell.

Hearing sudden groans and strange noises, Minato stopped in his track and looked at the afar Anbu falling down to the ground and two teens running away.

"Fuck!" cursed Minato and rushed back to the area. Running by the recovering and still quite confused Anbu, who followed him as he passed, he chased after the already distant boys.

"Tch…How on earth is it possible to run that fast?!" loudly wondered Minato, picking up speed as the two teens became more and more distant from his reach. _'Damn it!' _"No human can do that through pure effort alone?!"

"They aren't normal humans Namikaze-sama," finding place to start a conversation informed the jumping _Byakugan _user by his left-side once he caught up with him, "The amount of their chakra has just increased into an incredibly big amount. I can see it through my _Byakugan_."

"You mean to say that they've been hiding their true chakra even by the time they were facing the beasts?!" asked surprised, shocked and furious Minato.

"Yes. And that's not all."

'_What now?!' _"…?!…"

"Their chakra is completely changed."

"What do you mean by that?!" asked Minato.

Narrowing his eyes the _Byakugan _user then said, "The color is different."

"Yes, I can see that as well…" informed the pony-tailed Anbu, jumping through the trees by Namikaze's other-side. "It's the color of red and yellow."

"Strange… However it is a very useful set of information…" Minato pushed himself harder against the branch to pick a much faster pace with other four following shortly after. Turning then his radio-speaker on, he spoke in it, "Asuma! Where are you?"

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Gaara warily glanced at his 'brother', _'I hope he won't command him to go beyond-…'_

"Look out!" Naruto's sudden shout made him jerk and look out front, where a flying kunai nearly stabbed him. Dodging the hit and landing to the ground, Gaara blinked as a huge man (nearly 2meters tall) out of nowhere jumped in and attacked him with heavy-looking knuckle knifes. Stepping a bit back before the man could gut him, Gaara quickly jumped backwards to the tree and sighed…, yet abruptly flinched at the pain that rushed upon his stomach. Looking down he shivered at the sight of the blood soaking his tore shirt. Glaring up, he blinked at the familiar face of the well known teacher of Team 10 – Asuma, and growled in his throat as he spotted the smoking man's blades glow with blue chakra – lengthening it. Cursing the smirking dark-haired male, Gaara held to his wounded stomach and jumped down; landing with a heavy foot he cracked the ground around the whole area. _'I'm gonna kill him!' _But suddenly his body froze…since it was caught by a familiar shadow. Turning his head with a little struggle to the side, Gaara scowled at the smug looking shadow-user kneeling on the ground not too far away from him – Shikamaru.

"Heh! Your move Ino." Shikamaru said to the long, blond haired girl standing between him and a slightly disturbing looking chubby teen known as Choji, and the girl started to make a quick set of signs for the 'Mind-transfer jutsu'.

But before she could execute the jutsu, the blond teen jumped in and landed in front of the red-head; bringing his hand up he harshly waved it – as if smacking the air – and shot a large summoned wind ring at the legendary group of Ino-Shika-Cho.

All brought their hands up to get some of the shield and yelped as the kicking wind still forced them to the air and far away.

Free from the shadow and grabbing Naruto's wrist, Gaara jerked him aside as a heavy fist almost knocked them both into the ground.

"Damn…" silently whispered Naruto at seemingly angered Asuma's felt strength.

Gaara narrowed his eyes and tapped his foot at the ground. The sand shot out and grabbed the tall man's hands and legs and forced him down. "Let's scram!" suggested Gaara and both ran off, seconds before the Anbu and Namikaze arrived.

One of the Anbu stopped to help Asuma free from the sand, while Minato and the other three Anbu wordlessly passed and rushed after the teens.

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Glancing at Naruto, Gaara received a curt statement of 'later' and watched as the blond sprinted to the left. Concern and slight fear lashed through Gaara's eyes before he closed them and disappeared to the right.

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"They separated!" suddenly informed the pony-tailed Uchiha, landing on the place the two last were together.

"Should we split as well?" wondered Kakashi.

"Hard choice… The red-head seems to be the strongest of the two…" thoughtfully said the second Uchiha – Shisui.

"Hn. He's got the trump card," agreed Hatake.

"The sand," confirmed Itachi, "But still…" _'There seems to be something more behind the blond-boy than he lets loose…'_ he thought to himself. "…I believe that they both are hiding more than they let on. Especially the blond," voicing out his thoughts, shared the young Uchiha Itachi.

"I agree! But we should first deal with the red-head. I think he will be hardest to take down." Turning then his radio back on, Minato contacted the one he was sure will take care of the _sprinting_ blond. "Gai… what's your destination from the target?"

"We're closing in on the youthful spring…, should be about two-three miles, nothing much to handle. But you just relax and leave everything to us! Me and my prize student will take him down no problem," proudly voiced out the spiritual voice of the _green-beast_, with the miniature copy cheering in the background, "YES! GAI-SENSEI!!"

"Good!" Minato approved and turned the radioout.

"Let's go!" he said, and disappeared after the red-head with the three Anbu following.

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Stopping in his run, Naruto summarized the distances he had gained and prepared to run again when suddenly two familiar chakras landed in his way. Frowning, he clenched his fist.

"Stop! In the name of youth-OOFFF…!" the 'beautiful beast' of Konoha – aka Gai – didn't manage to finish his luxurious speech as the blind-boy was already in front of his face with the heavy fist in pack.

"GAI-SENSEI!" screamed Lee as he watched his idol get punched to the face so hard that it made the poor man fly about fifteen meters to the air. "YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!" yelled Lee and rushed towards the blond.

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Gaara slid to the stop and quickly jumped up as a kunai was thrown between his legs with an explosion tag strapped to it.

**BOOOM!!**

Glaring at the explosion down below, Gaara gasped as two shadows jumped higher above him. Turning in the air he cursed as two shadows blew two angry fireballs at him.

Crashing to the ground from the compact, Gaara rolled onto his stomach. Holding at the still unhealed bruise, he wobbly stood up and coughed. Suddenly something hard collided with his sand that instantly shot out to protect him. A chirping of birds fogged his memory.

"Not that _thing_ again…" he opened his eyes to stare at the former-'teacher' of Naruto's trying to break to him through the protective, rushing sand with _Chidori_.

"No…" Narrowing his 'invisible'-brows Gaara quickly went through a set of hand-signs. A wave of sand shot out from between Kakashi's legs and punched him away. Yet before he could command the sand go any further… a sudden explosion in the afar forest made them all stop…

**BOOOOOOMM!!**

Suddenly two blurs of green crashed in between Gaara and the four Leaf-nins, creating a deep hole in process.

As the created dust died away from the huge hole between them, a hard coughs of somebody notified the others that that _blur of green_ was actually two live people who crashed into the ground.

A shaking hand grabbed at the edge of the hole and out crawled a shaking form of Maito Gai and Rock Lee following.

"Sen…-sein…" coughing, Lee tried to form words at their apparent failure and concern he held for his teacher.

"It's al…alright L-Lee…" a deeper hiss of pain came from a masculine voice of Gai. "It's not over yet… just let the youth of your body guide you to the sun and we shall gain v-victory… I just have to get up first."

"G-Gai?! Is that you?!" agape Namikaze came closer and helped the poor man from the hole. Everyone from the first sight would think that he had an encounter with some wild animal – his closes were all torn and he had many cuts on his arms, legs and face. Strangely, apart from him, his student seemed to be in a much better shape though.

"Ah…I am sorry sir…, this young spring _might_ have gotten me a little bit too careless from the start…, but don't you worry… as soon as my back will stop aching I will be on my feet!" proudly spoke Gai about his encounter with Naruto, yet hissed at the pain all over his body.

"There is no use! Try as hard as you might…you shall lose either way…" the red-head's abrupt words made everyone look at him. "I will be saying this only once and won't say it again – if you will not let us go now…you will all die."

Minato furrowed his brows and stared at the emotionless green-eyes that stared back – challenging each other out, whilst the rest averted their eyes to look at the sand that calmly danced around the red-head's feet.

As the rest wondered how they will ever pass the sand, Itachi's mind wondered off to the second of 'brothers', _'He took out Gai and Lee with such a little effort at hand… truly, the blind-boy is not to be taken lightly… I just wonder if _he _knows that yet…for he will sure be the one to find that out…real soon.' _Narrowing his eyes, he looked at the far distance of the dark forest.

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Kicking away small pieces of wood by his feet of the just broken trees, Naruto sniffed the air of the newly-made clearing after the quick fight with the Konohagakure's _green beasts_ (actually one of them to be exact – he tried to keep Lee out of it), and prepared to jump away…

…But a cold abrupt laughter suddenly made him lightly stumbled in his steps. The laughter grew lauder and lauder as it was slowly nearing itself, making his backbone give a shudder in the most displeased ways. And what was the most irritating of all that is that the laughter came from all directions.

"Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku…ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haaa… what an _interesssting _child you are…"

Clenching his fist, Naruto clapped his teeth together.

"I knew from the very beginning I saw you… that you were… _special_… But now I get to see it with my own eyesss…"

Turning his head a bit to the left, Naruto searched for the sound where he could make it the clearest and strongest. _'There…' _Narrowing his brows, Naruto grabbed a shuriken he stole from Gai's tool-bag andthrew it to his right. A dark-shadow leaped from the shadows and attacked him.

Jumping up and dodging the figure, Naruto did a couple of circles in the air and landed back to his feet.

"Reflexes are striking," smirked the shadow as it slowly stood up from its kneeling position and turned to face the boy. "Can you see me, child?" a man with familiarly long, black hair standing now in the clearing teased him.

Scowling at the amusement full hiss-of-a-voice, Naruto also turned and faced the form of a well known Sannin.

"Orochimaru…" whispered the blond with dead voice.

The _snake_-Sannin's smirk grew wider at the acknowledgment, "Hello Naruto-kun… Would you care to amuse me?"

The blond scowled and suddenly disappeared. There was only one think Naruto wound ever care to give the _snake-_Sannin…

"Hm?" Orochimaru blinked and blinked again as the boy appeared right before him, and before he could catch his breath a clawed hand made contact with his face.

"OOfff…" crushing to the ground, from the unexpectedly hard punch, the _snake _opened his mouth to shout a curse, yet replaced it with a loud scream as deep cut was made onto his back – tearing off clothes and flesh.

Arching his back, he suddenly gasped out at a sickening sound of his bones breaking from the inside out… Silencing himself, feeling the unpleasant cold's embrace suddenly taking him in, Orochimaru slowly lowered his eyes to look down. "A-ahh…?!" his eyes widened at the sight of a beating heart in the clenches of a clawed hand presented to his view and sticking out from his chest. "H…how… n-no-o-one…can…"

Naruto held his right-hand onto the _snake's _shoulder, while the left was pierced through Orochimaru's left-back-side.

"Take a good look…" silently growled Naruto and clenched the beating muscle in his grip tighter before forcing his hand back and out of the foreign body.

"AHH…" Orochimaru gasped again before he screamed as the hand was abruptly forced back and into his left-chest along with his heart. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHhhhh-…" he did the final scream before his heart was ruthlessly ripped out from his back completely.

Bringing his foot up, Naruto kicked Orochimaru's back and listened as the dead, none responding body fell to the ground.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto clenched the heart in his hand and growled out to all directions, "Come out, coward!!!"

The dead body of Orochimaru's suddenly turned into mud and sank into the ground; just the same – the supposedly fading heart stopped beating and turned into mud and streamed down in between Naruto's clenched fingers.

As the now apparent to be a mud-clone faded away, another shadow came out, "Sooo… you figured it was a fake already?! …You _do _intrigue me!" a small smirk was 'hearable' enough to tell Naruto that Orochimaru felt pleased, yet distantly very shocked and at some point angry and scared altogether. _'I wonder what I ever I did to make that boy hate me so?!'_

As the said boy turned around to face him, Orochimaru made a faint sound of 'Hn', before cutting his both thumbs and summoning five huge snakes.

Whilst the summons were awakening, Naruto brought his right-foot up and slammed it to the ground, making it crack deep crack-lines till they reached under every summon appearing around him. Kneeling down Naruto kicked his whole left fist into the hard-ground.

Orochimaru, arched a brow when the ground beneath suddenly started to shake and crack wider open. Startled he looked up at his snakes that suddenly hissed in grand pain as four huge chakra-red tails came out and pierced through every one of them.

"Tch…" gritting his teeth, Orochimaru commanded the fifth snake he was standing on to go for the kneeling boy.

Sensing something huge approaching, Naruto turned around and gasped as he was suddenly swallowed whole by the snake he missed.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-haa… Don't be afraid boy… he should digest you in less than a second," chuckled Orochimaru, slowly moving down the snake's backside. But suddenly he gasped as a hand shot out of the snake's skin and grabbed his ankle.

"What?!" startled, Orochimaru was suddenly pulled into the snake himself.

The snake writhed, tossed and hissed in grand pain, before suddenly a bright light shone through its opened mouth and suddenly it exploded to bits.

"GHA…" Orochimaru stumbled in the ground till he crushed his back to the tree… hard. "OOFff!" Hissing, Orochimaru opened his eyes to stare at the boy in wonder, "…i-it can't b-be… that technique…"

Naruto landed in the clear twenty meters away from him. Shaking his hands from the dripping saliva covering them and his whole body, he snarled and suddenly took off running straight at the Sannin.

Standing up, Orochimaru blinked his confusion full thoughts away and formed a sly smirk instead once he caught the blond running straight at him. _'Running directly at your enemy?! How foolish!'_ inwardly laughed the _snake _and pulled his hands together…

…But before they even touched, something smacked the Sannin at the back of his head, flinching and blinking at the same time once he saw that the boy that was supposed to be in front of him is gone, Orochimaru quickly turned around only to get jammed right into the face with a back of a heavy hand. _'How the hell did he move that fast!? Was it an illusion before me?'_

There's no time to think as the said boy is yet again right in front of him and punched the _snake's_ face with another hand with wild force, making him fly far away up.

Frowning, Orochimaru started to make seals in the air but his wrist was suddenly grabbed, widening his eyes he looked up at the boy holding it. _'Impossible! No human can move that fast! I can't even manage a hand-sign…'_

Naruto twisted the _snake's _hand and maneuvered himself behind him, kicking him right into the backbone. The Sannin got thrown back to the ground; however before the contact with the ground, Orochimaru managed to do a couple of elegant twists to make a decent landing.

Without as much as a second though – Orochimaru shot his tongue out and luckily entwined it around the boy's ankle, smirking once he succeeded on catching him.

Loosing balance because of something disgustingly wet and slippery surprising him by grabbing his ankle, Naruto fell onto his back.

"You're mine!" smirked Orochimaru taking out his sward from within his mouth and prepared to pull the boy in.

Growling in his mind, the blond didn't give the _snake _such a satisfaction and quickly wriggled his free leg out to harshly step on that slimy organ's outstretched part…

…Holding it in place, the blond quickly grabbed the found three-edged kunai fixed to his hip and plugged it into that sleek organ…

"HAAAaahhh…" screamed Orochimaru, as the metal nailed his tongue to the ground.

Weakening his hold on the blond, who quickly freed himself and jumped away. Orochimaru looked up _'…shit…'_ and got jammed right into the nose – that forced him to fly away and his tongue be sliced into two parts by the grounded kunai's sharpness.

Before contacting the ground with his back, Orochimaru gasped in surprise as he was abruptly caught by his tongue and yanked back towards the boy who already got his right-foot ready and punched the _snake _into the chin – effectively making the tongue be bitten between his own sharp teeth.

Crashing to the ground for the tenth time, Orochimaru rolled onto his knees and gasped for air, pain and shock before quickly swallowing his tongue back to its normal size and covering his hand over the mouth – trying to drink the streaming red-liquid of blood away.

Slowly standing up onto his shaking feet, Orochimaru send a glare at the blind-boy, yet quickly closed his eyes as sickening streams of overloaded blood started pushing itself out of his mouth and through the fingers – making him choke under the pressured amount behind the slightly cracked teeth. Falling back to his knees, he let his mouth go and vomited all of his held blood back, coughing while fighting his way through so much needed oxygen.

Naruto stood still, listening as the Sannin struggled with the damage, while his mind subconsciously slowly wondered off far away from reality.

'…_avenge yourself…' _a deep voice echo came from within the far depths of his mind, seducing him to its will.

'…_make them feel…'_

'…_bring them pain…'_

Covering a glowing hand onto his mouth, Orochimaru started to heal his tore muscle.

'…_make them suffer…'_

'…_kill them!'_

Standing then up, Orochimaru loudly brushed the sand with his leg to get his footage, which in process seemed to bring Naruto back to the present state since he quickly turned his head to the Sannin's direction once a sound of sand rubbing against each other was made.

'… …_kill…'_

'…_kill…'_

'_Kill!!'_

"…no…" the abrupt whisper startled the Sannin and he quickly looked up…, but the only thing left in front of him was a faint whisper hanging in the air, "…no…mercy…"

Looking frantically around for the missing maniac of a boy, Orochimaru flinched as a harsh hand suddenly grabbed his shoulder and spun him around only to give him another hard blow across the face, so hard that he couldn't understand anymore – whether he's still standing or lying on the ground.

'_No mercy…'_

Snarling, Naruto punched him again with the other hand, then with a foot to the gut…

…Bending from the pressure, Orochimaru groaned at the pain in his abdomen and cracked an eye wide-open just when he was collided with a knee right into his broken nose…

…Jumping up, Naruto quickly swung his right-foot to the _snake's _right-cheek…

…Hissing at the sore cheek, Orochimaru fell forcefully to the ground on his back. Struggling up, he supported himself onto the elbows, _'I can't believe the damage I'm receiving from just a mere Taijutsu!?'_

Forcing then his heavy eyes open and focusing his sight – all he could make was a fist…

…However, it never came…

Sensing a metal going for his reach, Naruto cursed as he was interrupted and jumped away from the _snake_. The kunai brushed right pass his nose, lightly scratching it, but it momentarily began to heal with steaming like sound.

"My apologies for the delay, Orochimaru…"

Naruto's mind froze at the voice that just spoke.

Ten forms emerged from the shadows; three of them went straight to Orochimaru, helping him to his feet and started to heal his wounds.

Coughing out a bit more blood, Orochimaru hissed at the pain all over his body and spoke in harass voice, "Mmm… t-that's quite alright!" supporting himself with the help form a grey haired young-man with tightly fixed pony-tail (in other words – Kabuto), the Sannin stood up and looked once more at the blond, "…I was _just_ beginning to have a little…fun…with my little foe here!" regaining more of his strength back, he straightened to his own feet.

"But never mind that… Right now I'm aching to see how you will do against 'im…, Sasuke!?"

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Closing his eyes, Minato took a slightly shuddering breath. "Gaara… please be reasonable about all this! You and your brother are to be taken back to the village under the Hokage's orders. Accept it! You have crossed the line…" he tried to reason with the boy.

"No Namikaze-sama… unfortunately it is you who crossed the line," repelled the red-head.

"What?!" opening his eyes, confused growled Minato.

Frowning at the clueless man, Gaara didn't bother to explain. "Let me and my brother go…and there shall be no harm and no blood to spill." he warned.

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"Then you leave us with no choice," narrowing his eyes Gaara brought his right-hand up and the moving sand around him suddenly stormed at the leaf-shinobi.

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"You shall find it to be very interesting… the boy is rather strong." smirked delighted _snake-_Sannin, taking a conversation with the newcomers lined by his side.

"Well ain't that something… are you telling me that chick over there is actually a guy!?" blinking asked a teen with a huge sward strapped to his back, gesturing at the silent blond boy.

"I congratulate you on your stupidity, Suigetsu." rolling her eyes, mumbled a girl with red-hair.

"Shut up, Karin!" growled the aqua haired teen.

"Easy though, young nin! He's not the one to underestimate his opponents… unlike you!" smirked Orochimaru at Suigetsu's statement, not taking his piercing eyes off of the young-blond.

"Hn…, he doesn't seem like much!" unimpressed finally mumbled something out the young Uchiha, making the _snake _laugh at the comment and Karin see stars around the raven-haired teen.

"That's what I thought…" whispered Orochimaru earning him a raised brow from the young Uchiha.

"Pfffe…, let's just get this over with already! I'm tired of hearing all your bullshit blabbering." snarled dark-orange haired girl, crossing her arms.

"Aww… come now, Tayuya-…" trying to calm the girl down, spoke lightly orange-haired big guy.

"Shut up, Fatso!"

"Alright! Enough you two!" annoyed, snarled a teen with lightly violet hair and green lips by the name of Sakon, rubbing his temples.

"That's right…, enough!" fully turning to them, also annoyed, yet still keeping his calm, finally spoke Naruto.

"Well-well… it looks like you're not as helpless as we thought!" slightly impressed, teased smirking Suigetsu. "And here I thought I was going to fight you with no hands… you being incapable and all…"

"Leave! I have no interest in fighting you," showing off no signs of expression, still calmly, warned the blond.

Orochimaru frowned at that, while the rest simply chucked at the blind-boy's naïve command, somehow he felt as if that statement was referred only to the young-ones.

'_Interesting… what kind of a grudge are you holding against me?!'_

"Then I'll just have to make you interested…" not waiting for the response, the aqua haired teen brought out his huge sward and suddenly took off running at the blond.

Ducking from the swing of the giant blade going for his neck, Naruto brought out his foot and kicked the loud teen right into the abdomen, viciously punching him away.

All the rest slightly agape figures moved out of the way as their companion flew pass them and painfully crashed into the tree behind.

Orochimaru smirked at the dumbfounded looking teen, who hissed while struggling to his feet. "Whenever will you learn, Suigetsu?!"

Snarling at the Sannin, Suigetsu stood to his feet with the help of a tall, peacefully looking guy and looked back at the blond, who didn't seem to have moved from his previous spot.

A small smirk slowly formed on the young Uchiha's face, "Interesting…"

_

* * *

_

"This is definitely not the best course of action, Itachi." Breathing for air spoke Shisui while watching as the murderous sand prohibited anyone from closing in on the teen. "The sand just gets in the way without him even doing anything. Maybe we're in need of a regroup?!"

"Not exactly… all we need to do is find a weakness." indifferently answered Itachi.

"Oh?! And you have a plan?"

"I have…"

"Which is?"

"Speed…"

Smirking, Shisui looked at the two green clad shinobi, who grinned at each other – already getting the meaning beforehand.

Gaara blinked as he spotted his dimensionally-parallel friend Lee concentrating on a familiar technique while already badly beaten Gai (grand and thankful _courtesy_ of his 'brother') left it to him and jumped aside with the others – to not interfere.

Blue chakra enfolded Lee's whole body, veins pushed themselves to the vision and his skin turned red from the forced pressure. The third Gate was opened and Lee charged right at him.

'_From below…'_ anticipating the punch, Gaara quickly jumped up as Lee dashed at him with incredulous speed, passing the sand and trying to get him by sneaking in and kicking him upwards by the chin.

"Get back here!!" screamed Lee and jumped after Gaara. Grabbing the waving sash in the air, Lee harshly tugged at it to bring Gaara closer to his own body.

'_There's a serious Déjà vu taking effect here…' _growled Gaara and brought up his foot as Lee jerked him back closer, _'…but not for long!'_

Surprised by the red-head's own speed, Lee widened his eyes as Gaara's foot suddenly made contact with his face, before he could do the same with the red-head's stomach.

"AAHhh…" Crushing to the ground, Lee cursed and rolled over and jumped back up to meet the red-head, who landed to his feet and ran straight at him as well.

**BOOOOM!!**

The second collation separated them both apart.

'_Fucking_ Lotus_…' _cursed Gaara, as he expertly, with a little struggle though, landed to his feet from the forceful kick and quickly kneeling down – placed his right-palm on the ground.

Lee crushed to the ground, and abruptly gasped as sand shot out and entwined around his arms and legs. Suddenly he was pushed back to the tree, where sand tied more around him and kept him steady from doing any of the unnecessary movements.

Mindless by the anger, Lee didn't know that the sand was actually there to hold him back so that he could do no more damage on himself by using _that_ technique.

'_Better end this _now_!' _Jumping a bit more to the back, Gaara slid his foot to the stop and started making a complicated set of hand signs. The sand started to obediently go towards him and form an aggressive wave.

"Change of the plan, ey Itachi?!" smirked Shisui as he stared at the gigantic wave towering above them.

Sending a glare at his friend from the corner of his eye, Itachi suddenly took off running – straight for the sand wave.

"There he goes again," sighed Shisui, rubbing his head.

Reaching closer to the towering giant, Itachi kicked from the ground and jumped at the very top of the sand wave. Pushing against the top of the wave, Itachi went down – landing on the other side in front of the red-head.

"Hm?!" shocked, Gaara gasped before he was punched right into the face and was sent flying ten meters away.

The sand wave ceased and went down to the clear ground – creating a huge dust around.

Smirking at the glaring red-head standing back to his feet, Itachi let his eyes bled into the red of the _Sharingan_.

_

* * *

_

Naruto's sense suddenly perked up on something rather disturbing. "Gaara…" he whispered and turned his head to the left, where the familiar aura was held. _'Something is wrong… I have to go…'_

Curious, the rest of the newly arrived group also looked to the said direction, wondering what was so interesting there.

Smirking, Orochimaru, hearing the familiar name being spoken, teased, "What's wrong Naruto-kun? Is _someone_ in the need of a helping hand?"

Scowling, Naruto clenched his fist and turned back to the Sannin and his students; the slowly fading rage started to overtake his calmed mind back.

'…_kill…'_

"I can only guess what your dearest brother is going through right now… Oh and what a disappointment…I am not there to see it…"

Taking a shuddering breath, Naruto calmly spoke, "You're words… are _remarkable_, Orochimaru… No-one safe such a wrenched _snake_ like you would ever even think to gain the upper hand by bringing up the weakness that a family bond holds."

Losing his smirk, the Sannin frowned.

"Tell me… Are you really that afraid and desperate to bring such words out 'cause you wonder if you finally found my weak-spot?! …Or are you just trying to prove my point on the fact that your incompetence of dirty language is only as strong as your hidden pride because of the COWERD THAT YOU REALLY ARE?!" losing his cool, Naruto started screaming the end of the sentence out.

Hissing, Orochimaru scowled at the boy; ignoring the fact that neither of the words made any sense to him…, yet one sure did – his pride was jerked. "What did you say?"

Gritting his teeth at the elder, Naruto kicked a long piece of a broken wood by his feet up and grabbing it between his fingers he threw it at Orochimaru where it stabbed him into the shoulder.

"GHa…" grabbing at the wood and yanking it out, Orochimaru hissed, "GET 'IM!"

Hearing someone slide out a katana, Naruto squatted down before kicking up high in the air.

A tall figure also jumped in the air and lined with him.

Narrowing his brows, Naruto scowled at the familiar aura before him. _'Sasuke…'_

Sasuke tightened the hold on his katana and reached out to slice the boy.

Surprising Sasuke, Naruto caught a tight hold on the black blade, forcing it away from his neck, before he fisted Sasuke into the stomach.

"Nghh…" knitting his eyes at the pain, Sasuke jammed Naruto into the chin with his foot.

Tasting his own blood, Naruto hissed at the overwhelming anger that rose higher up and punched the raven in the cheek…then into the other and before unleashing anymore of the held force he kicked Sasuke with his foot to the chest – sending him down and away from himself before he does anything he will regret later.

Twisting in the air, Sasuke made a decent landing, followed by Naruto, who landed on a tree branch nine meters away from the group. Bringing his wrist up, Sasuke glared and wiped a long trail of blood crawling down his chin whilst watching the blond spat the blood from his own mouth carelessly to the side.

'_I don't have time for this… I must go!' _taking a step backwards, Naruto abruptly froze as he sensed one of the presented in front of him missing. Turning quickly around Naruto gasped as a side of his stomach was momentarily pierced by a sharp object; strange liquor was forced inside. Grabbing at the expected to be blade Naruto shivered as he came across a bone sticking out of a tall man's hand standing in front of him.

"Y…you…?" Memories of fighting a white haired guy with bone-power made Naruto grit his teeth. _'Kimimaro…'_ Forcing his foot up, Naruto kicked the man away and grabbed at his wound; blood spilled through it. Jumping down from the tree, Naruto completely forgot about the presence of the others and arched as suddenly something was shot at his back and pierced itself in. Falling to his knees, Naruto reached a shaking hand behind himself and took out the sharp object. He knitted his brows at the well-known resemblance of a once familiar weapon.

"Do you like my creation?" amused male voice came from in the group behind Naruto. "It's called sticky-spider-thread… Don't be frightened when I say it's produced from out of my mouth." the teen by the name of Kidoumaru spoke.

The smug laughter sickened Naruto. He already knew most of all those guys once before he was chasing after Sasuke… and to deal with them once more all together at _this_ time will be a real mess.

'_Kill…' _the voice of hatred tried to over take him again.

'…_no…' _Clenching the _thread_-made-weapon, Naruto suddenly growled before reaching out and throwing it at the gang.

Startled, Sasuke ducked as it was delivered to him. Glaring at the boy, Sasuke brought up his katana, pointing at Naruto's direction, and suddenly it shot out a long lightning line.

"Ah…" gasping in surprise, Naruto brought up his right hand to shield his face but flinched as the lightning pierced it. Turning his head aside just in time, he heard the lightning line go pass and nail his arm to the tree, lightly scratching his right-cheek on the way. Grabbing at the sharp, gleaming and lengthened blade with his safe hand, he tried to yank it away.

"Don't even try it." Sasuke's deep voice warned. "You shall break your arm."

'_Idiot…my arm is already broken…' _Frowning, Naruto wasn't about to listen and proceed, yet he gasped as a kunai was thrown and stabbed into his left-shoulder – nailing him completely to the tree behind.

Gritting his teeth, Naruto cursed Kabuto, who was the one who threw the damn thing (probably as a payback for what he did to Orochimaru).

Silently groaning, Naruto gave in and leaned back deeper into the tree, forcing himself to collect his shaken, unstable nerves and heal the wounds before _time_.

'_Not yet…'_

All of the presented narrowed their eyes in interest as his palm and cheek slowly _'hissed'_ close right before them.

"Interesting!" smirked Suigetsu and ignoring everyone else walked over to the nailed blond and kneeled in front of him.

Naruto flinched when cold fingers caressed his just healed cheek, but allowed it for time. _'…not…yet…' _

"What are you?!" wondering asked Suigetsu, running a line down Naruto's cheek.

Naruto growled as those fingers slowly started to slide deeper down his neck, pass his bare chest and stomach.

Stopping at the blond's pants' waistband, Suigetsu smirked and experimentally began to tug it down.

"Suigetsu!" Orochimaru's harsh voice startled the aqua-haired. "Let him go!"

"Oh come now, Orochimaru-_sama_…" turning his head to look over his shoulder, smirked Suigetsu, "Let us have some fun! I'm sure the _pretty _over here can't wait for me to fu-Oooff…" Suigetsu was suddenly punched five meters away from the blond, who kicked him away with his foot.

Yanking the kunai from his right-shoulder, Naruto brought it down on Sasuke's outstretched katana and cut it in half – ceasing the lightning jutsu, which disappeared and Sasuke's katana went to its normal size.

Throwing the kunai at the group, to distract them by dodging the unpredictable kunai, Naruto took the opening and jumped up in that same tree he was pierced to.

"Yet again you managed to jam me away!!! What a Hell?!" yelling, angry Suigetsu stood up from the ground and threw his large sward at the blond.

Jumping further up to the next branch, Naruto barely dodged the giant sward from cutting off his feet.

Appearing on his sward embed into the tree-bole, Suigetsu kicked up from it and tried to reach for the blond. Finally managing on grabbing his ankle, Suigetsu smirked and pulled Naruto forcefully down.

"GhAa…" falling onto the ground, Naruto rolled on his stomach and grabbed hold onto the open wound by his side, "…ngh…"

Suddenly someone slammed two palms onto the ground about seven-eight meters from him and exclaimed, "Earth-style prison!"

A shake and big cracks of the earth startled Naruto, and before he could do anything about it – a large bricks of rocks dug themselves out and formed a big trapped-piled wall around and above him.

Swallowed by deeper darkness, Naruto slowly stood up and slightly flinched at the still deep wound by his stomach. Leaning his back and supporting himself against the wall, Naruto silently hissed while the wound slowly healed itself; deeply down he felt rather grateful for being isolated for some time alone – he needed time to collect himself.

"Heh-heh-heh…, that was too easy." smirked the pleased fat-guy as he advanced the formed pile of rocks and placed his both arms onto it. Slowly red-chakra started to poor out, sucking it into the big orange-haired guy. "Mmm…, so much energy. This isn't any usual chakra you will find walking around the earth, that's for sure. It's very powerful…, however, it will need to do a lot more than that to release himself out of this pile of chakra-sucking-wall," he beamed with satisfaction and delight for feeding such strong energy.

"Well, that seals the pretty-boy," landing from the tree and dusting his hands off, smugly said Suigetsu leaning onto his large-sward.

Inside the rock-pile-wall, Naruto felt his chakra slowly leaving him. _'He's feeding…like from the before,' _he concluded, mixing his past with realism as memories about fighting a fat-guy from the _Sound-Five_ came to light. _'What a waste…'_

There were slight bangs coming from the inside of the rock-wall along with a light shake of the earth… but the rock pile didn't even crack.

"Heh-heh-heh, keep trying, kid! That won't do you any good! Sorry, but you're done for!" confidently chuckled the big guy.

"Keep 'im packed, Jiroubou! We don't need any more of your screw-ups," glared the dark-orange-head girl at the orange-haired big-guy.

"Don't be so picky, Tayuay. I got our little birdie trapped in a steal cage, right as we wanted him. There's no way he'll get out."

"It's a pity really…" pouted Suigetsu thinking to himself out loud, "…You should have warned me you would use the wall on the boy."

"Hmm?! And why is that?!" wondered amused Sakon, catching a perverted glint in those delight full eyes.

"…So that I could go and be trapped inside along with him as well…" smirked Suigetsu, "…I would have had a blast with that _fox_."

The two girls glared at the water-nin while the boys laughed at the antics, though 'Hn' was the only thing coming from the young Uchiha's response as he stared at the pile of rocks.

Leaning over to Kabuto's ear, Orochimaru silently ordered, "Kabuto… get me Minato." he asked him to connect the Namikaze through the radio while his eyes stayed carefully sealed on the rock pile.

Back within the rock-wall, Naruto quietly sat on the ground… healing the last of the major wounds …when finally he whispered, "Time's up."

For a couple of seconds everything went quiet, before suddenly there was a small sound of something cracking…

"What a Hell is he doing in there?!" everyone narrowed their eyes wondering why the _captured_ was so quiet…

Suddenly huge beams of light were forced through the narrow rocks before it crumbled to bits – making a huge explosion in process.

**BOOOOOOMMM!!!**

"I can't see!" roared Kidoumaru along with everyone else covering their surprised faces from the pressured dust dashing at them from destroyed wall which exploded right in front of them.

Sasuke forced himself to blink through the dust as a dash of red-chakra suddenly flew out of it and with enormous speed dashed directly towards him.

"Wha??!" He couldn't even predict the movement as he was punched into the face with a heavy fist, which sent him flying all the way far out of the dusty area and painfully crash and stumbled to the ground.

'_What a Fuck?!' _snarled the Uchiha struggling to stand up and glared at the dusty area of crumbled small rocks and something akin to sprawled out figures in there.

Once the dust finally disappeared enough for him to see through, Sasuke hissed, "What a Hell is that _thing_?!" he started in anger, shock and disbelieve at his mercilessly beaten and practically knocked out teammates and two conscious looking teachers – all laying on the ground each in different set of pain, however, the blond was nowhere to be seen.

Sasuke gritted his teeth, _'No way…, there's no way that _that_ boy, could possibly done it all that easy…'_

_

* * *

_

"AHh…" Gaara fell to the ground for the fifth time as the Uchiha unleashed his rage onto him with amazing speed.

Appearing behind the red-head again, Itachi squatted down and kicked Gaara off his feet by swinging his leg from beneath.

"…ngh…" falling down, Gaara quickly rolled away before the Uchiha could direct his left-foot to his face. Dodging the painful kick, Gaara jumped to his feet and farther away from the Anbu. But he suddenly gasped as a chirping sound came from behind him; turning around, Gaara's eyes widened as he came two meters away from Kakashi's _Chidori_.

"It's over," silently exclaimed Minato as he and the rest watched Gaara have neither time nor the power to do anything to prevent this.

"Fuck!" cursed Gaara.

**BOOOOM!!**

"GHaaa…" a sound of someone crashing to the ground jerked Gaara's eyes open. He blinked and blinked again as his vision came to a figure of his panting 'brother' standing before him. Looking then over the tan shoulder, Gaara arched a brow as he spotted Kakashi far away on the ground, barely conscious.

Fifteen meters from them, Minato scowled. _'Naruto…'_

Turning his face to the right, where the Namikaze and the rest of the Anbu stood, Naruto brought up his right-hand and showed them two pairs of smoke-bombs between his fingers.

"Shit!" cursed Minato and tried to reach for the boys, yet the blond slammed the bombs onto the ground where they exploded. Bringing his hands up, Minato shielded his face away from the spread smoke and coughed while trying to blink through it.

"Where'd they go?" looking frantically around the now empty clearing, Minato slightly flinched as a speaker by his neck abruptly clicked, signalizing him someone on the other line. Pressing the button, Minato spoke in the radio, "Yes?!"

"Namikaze-sama! We have a lock on the described suspects." came a male's voice on the other end of the radio.

"Good… Where?" he asked through coughs because of the smoke in the lungs.

"…east…"

"You mean from the 'grand mountain', yes?" he asked looking straight at the huge mountain visible on his left-side.

"No, sir," denied the voice in the speaker. "…the village."

"…" Minato halt and blinked into nothing, "What?" he asked unbelieving, making the Anbu around look at him in question.

"Ten miles east from the village's walls, sir." elaborated the man on the other end.

"…but…" _'That's about thirty miles away from here…'_ "HOW THE HELL DID THEY GET ALL THE WAY THERE? THEY WERE _JUST_ HERE?!" roared the Namikaze into the speaker, making the man on the other end jump.

"S…sir," slightly troubled and frightened voice spoke, trying to reassure his furious captain, "…I… I don't know… t-they…I mean we traced a lock on them for nearly half an hour ago…"

"… …WHAT?!?"

_

* * *

_

_**è **__replies to chp#12 reviews:_

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – thank ya so very much about that:D

Lapislazu – oh no…the 'showdown' is _just _beginning XD

PirateCaptainBo – thank you both!XD I hope the rest will turn out as interesting;))

-siarafaerie-101-miss – they sure are…XD Now I just have to figure out how should I torture them!?;))

-emerald jaguar- – ok, now go out & unbury the yaoi heart…, 'cause I won't put Gaara with a girl… I finally chose a match for himXD

890 – thank you-thank you!XD

hentai18ancilla – oh no…, the poor suitors shall have to catch them first…, if they can that is!?XD

BrokenBloodDrops – thanx so bloody much!!XD

greeneboy313 – thanx!!XD Sorry for the wait though, the net was a drag XP

Stoic-Genius – thank ya!XD hope the action further next shall keep you interested as well!?;))

enchanted nightingale – thank you!XD I hope this chp was just as exciting!?;))

EdSpikeSesshyGirl – thanx!!XD But the attack of the Lightning shall be nothing compared to what Leaf shinobi will have to stand against now that the boys have escaped their clenches!;)) This is only the beginning of one messy fight. All that's left is for me to get it all somehow on the paper=?

Eovin – thanx!!XD yep, the mess is done…now they simply have to get out of it as easy as possible…if only it _would_ be possible with Naruto in his killer mood;))

Kamerreon – thank ya!!XD Will have to wait for the romance though…, because with my speed of a writing, I hope I won't ageXP But I shall try to keep the chp-s faster up!;))

mihel asyki akatsuki schizo – you know it's really funny…I was just about to update the next chp when you reviewed;)) Thank ya!XD

_**è**__ Huge __thanks to the reviewers –_ Kamerreon; Eovin; EdSpikeSesshyGirl; enchanted nightingale; Stoic-Genius; greeneboy313; BrokenBloodDrops; hentai18ancilla; 890; -emerald jaguar-; -siarafaerie-101-miss; PirateCaptainBo; Lapislazu; XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX & mihel asyki akatsuki schizo.

* * *


	14. Chapter 14

_**

* * *

**_

_**'Chapter 14'**_

* * *

"A clone?! …?!… Those were just fucking clones?!" Minato restrained himself from yelling as an unbelievable rage overtook him. _'God damn you!! …I can't believe this!'_ growling in his mind he wordlessly took off into the direction the man on the radio informed him about – to the east of the village.

As everyone passed by after the Namikaze, Itachi thoughtfully knitted his brows as curiosity took hold of him and he turned to look behind himself.

Seeing him unmoving, Shisui stopped and looked over his shoulder at the other Uchiha. "What's wrong?" he asked curious.

"The 'clones' didn't perish…" he said, though it sounded more like a statement to himself.

"Huh?" arching a thin brow, Shisui walked over to him.

"Why would they use smoke-bombs if they could simply disappear at any time without it?"

"Because they wanted us to believe that they escaped us by disappearing into the smoke, but in real they perished away leaving us to search for thin air!?"

"… …In simpler words – no…, they're just fooling us. They wanted to make us believe that the "clones" that just _disappeared_ were exactly that – clones. But in real – _those_ are the clones," informed Itachi, gesturing the last words to the direction Namikaze went to, "They're trying to lead us to the deviant direction while making a clear escape right under our noses to the other."

"But those are Inuzuka who are on their trail… surely they can't be fooled." shaking his head, Shisui still thought otherwise.

"Exactly. That's what the brats want us to believe…"

"You think?!" confused, the slightly taller one asked.

Skipping a quick glance at him, Itachi then walked to the place where the two 'brothers' were before they 'puffed away'. "I know…" he said and kneeled to the ground.

Coming closer, Shisui looked over Itachi's shoulder to see barely visible trail of blood-drops leading back into the forest and to the direction of the mountain.

Smirking, Shisui lightly elbowed Itachi to the side. "Let's go!"

* * *

"Speak Itachi!" turning the speaker on, Minato was contacted by the Uchiha while running to the east.

"Namikaze-sama, there is a possibility that your trail of lead might be deceived. The ways have just divided. Me and Shisui are now taking the trail to the mountain where the two brothers might have left. Either your way or our way it shall lead us to the one of them being false."

'_So there are more clones, huh!? Those brats…' _"Understood… keep that side in sight, we shall proceed with ours… just to be sure."

"Heh…what's wrong, uncle… you sound desperate!? Can't figure the difference between a nail and a screw? The age is such a bummer, would you not say?" butted in the smirking voice of the other Uchiha, making Namikaze's eye twitch.

"Well then we'll just have to see the true side in due time, won't we Shisui?" sighed Minato, with a little smile.

"Oh we will! And guess what…?! Our side of the trail shall lead us to the real brothers!" laughed the determinate Uchiha, always feeling fresh once there is an opportunity to tease or put dirt onto the next-Hokage's shoulders, just for the fun.

Shaking his head, Minato rolled his eyes. "Itachi, keep an eye on the idiot, please!"

"WHAT DID HE CALL ME?!?"

"Will do…" approved Itachi.

"Oh, are you taking sides now??!" protested Shisui, "This is mutiny!!"

"Shut up…" grumbled Itachi and that's where Namikaze disconnected them. "Retards…" he grumbled and proceeded with the trail.

* * *

Kneeling atop of the 'grand mountain', Naruto's lips played a sly smirk while Gaara held the blooded wound on his stomach and stood by the blond's side, looking over the high mountain to see Namikaze take the bait and head to the fake direction.

"Hm?" but suddenly something disturbing caught his sight and made his eyes narrow. "…the Uchihas…" he whispered and slowly stepped back.

Losing his smugness, Naruto cursed as he also caught the scent of the two spoken ones heading towards them. "…shit…" Standing up, Naruto followed Gaara.

'_I didn't plan on them to catch up so soon. Damn it…, now I will have to uphold everything a bit longer than the planned _time…_ God I hate those Uchihas…' _mumbled to himself the blond as he and Gaara took off – jumping down the mountain's bumpy rims on the other side.

* * *

"Orochimaru! Where are you?" pushing against another branch Minato gained in on the group that was after the supposedly suspects …or rather their clones!?…

"The northern side… fifteen miles away from the walls," informed the Sannin on the other end of the radio (referring the word 'walls' as of meaning the village's walls). He sounded quiet hurried as he spoke.

'_That's rather afar, yet as embarrassing as it may seem it appears that we're in need of a regroup…'_ fixing his thoughts, Minato then gave out his order, "Gather your men and head for the 'grand mountain'… The two brothers have just doubled the possibility and our chances have been perplexed. You're in need of-…" at this point Orochimaru quickly cut him midway.

"What are you talking about, Minato?" by the sound of the man's deep breath, Minato concluded that he must be in the middle of the run, "We got 'im under our sight right now!"

That made Minato stop, "… … …What do you mean?! Him who?!" he asked in confusion while the grey-haired Anbu along with still exhausted Gai and Lee passed him and proceeded onwards.

"The blond-boy of course! We're catching up to the brat right now. And God, will I tell you that _that_ child is definitely something else…"

'_Wasn't he the one back there to interfere with us?! …No! Now hold up! …The blond??! As in …one?!' _"Wait-wait! …The younger of the brothers? You mean there is only _one_ you are after now?" _'Shouldn't there be two once they can make clones?!'_

"Was I speaking too quickly?" chuckled the Sannin, "Of course there is only one. And it isn't 'now'…it is 'still'! Why such abrupt interrogation anyway? Are you having trouble with the other one? Where is the red-head by the way?"

"…" '_Could it be that the only one of them able to create shadow-clones is the blond then? Or did he just create him because the red-head needed his help so he came as one?!'_ blinking, the Namikaze fell quiet for some time till Orochimaru yelled at him if he was alright. Shaking his head, Minato then quickly informed the Sannin, "Orochimaru listen! Itachi and Shisui have just confirmed us on the possibility of the fake substitutes. Their lead takes them to the 'grand mountain', while I and the others are heading to the east side of the village…and both possibilities lead us to the two brothers in whole. Either way, one of them will be fake. And starting from now – apparently yours is no different."

"A clone, huh?! I don't think so. Minato, the boy me and my students just fought got stabbed, pierced, punched and gutted…and he didn't dispel from our range of sight. So you can practically say that this one is a no mistake. All that's left is the red-head."

'_Yea… If only those words were as easy as we would want them to seem…'_ stopping to take a calm breath, Minato then spoke again, "Very well… But keep your eyes open. And do not lose _him_!!" he gave his final order.

"Got it…" disconnecting the Sannin, Minato growled in anger and searched the channel for the two Uchihas, connecting them. _'Never in my life did I felt more duped than now… What is going on?!'_

"Itachi!"

"Yes sir?!" came a male's voice at the other end.

"The chances have just increased by one."

"You mean to say…there are _two_ pairs of clones?!"

"…So would it most likely seem… However, I would rather call it two side's three."

"Meaning…?!"

"There are three blonds and only two red-heads…"

"…"

"This is getting really confusing…" sighed Shisui's voice nearby.

Rubbing his closed eyes, Minato took a hard breath. "I do not care if they're clones or not! Find them… Reach them… And for God's sake, BRING THEM TO ME!" not bothering to hear the confirmation, Minato ripped the radio away and let out a frustrated groan, burying his face deeper into his hand. _'Curse those little…'_ he felt like screaming…, "DAMN IT!! WHERE IS JIRAIYA?!?" …which he did.

* * *

Holding onto his bruised and still deeply wounded stomach's side, Naruto took quick-harsh inhales while he ran as far away as he possibly could, trying to gain distance from the shinobi on his tail – Orochimaru, Sasuke, Suigetsu and one big-tall guy with spiky-dark-orange hair (Juugo); They could as well be called the fortunate ones left – whereas the others were left behind due to the seriousness of their injuries.

'_They catch on rather quickly…'_ thought Naruto and grabbed hold onto the side of one of the trees to do a sharp turn to the left, leaving a painful mark on the wood as he used his claws to help angle him into the left-side's direction.

Passing by that tree, the four cursed as they lost their footage and quickly stopped themselves before turning back around and heading after the now distanced teen who took a sudden corner.

Skipping a small, yet rather painful chuckle at the gained distance, Naruto coughed a bit before he pushed harder on the branch and jumped at the very top of the tree – deciding it would be easier for him to travel over the high tree tops; the wound implied in him was only making things worse…

* * *

"Out-front!" abruptly mumbled Naruto to the red-head by his side and suddenly took the left turn, heading away and into the direction of the place where the canyon stood.

Gaara saved him a quick glimpse before dashing faster forward as was told.

* * *

"One of them just split!" informed Kiba once his dog Akamaru barked.

"Take the left and go after him," informed the elder Inuzuka and watched as Kiba, Akamaru, Shino, Hinata and some of the other trackers took the turn. Just then the grey-haired Anbu and two 'green beasts' finally caught up with them.

"What's the situation?!" quickly asked the Anbu.

"Ineffectual, Hatake-san. So far we only managed to separate. We are heading after the one described as the elder of the two." informed a dark-brown haired woman from the Inuzuka clan.

"Who did you send after the other?" asked a new voice, signaling the Namikaze's arrival.

"Half of the group along with my son and his teammates. They shall take him out!" the woman now known as Kiba's mother answered.

Minato frowned at that. _'Somehow I guess otherwise…'_

* * *

Jumping from the 'grand mountain', Gaara looked at the still high way to go down and then glanced up above him and scowled as he spotted two figures appearing at the top. _'They're already here?! Tch…'_ turning around he quickly followed Naruto, who was almost at the bottom.

Standing above, Itachi and Shisui caught the colors of the both teens down below and jumped down after them.

Finally reaching the bottom, Naruto and Gaara landed in some kind of the valley – formed from the mountain's high walls – and quickly took off running down its long, narrow path.

After two-tree minutes the two Uchihas also jumped down and dashed after the two.

Spotting a cave on the left mountain's side they were just about to pass, Gaara looked at Naruto and suddenly pushed him into it and took off running straight forward.

"Gha…" crashing onto his back, Naruto rolled over and stood up. "…Bastard…couldn't you simply ask?!" growled the blond, holding onto his coccyx, which he painfully landed on, and quickly hid behind the corner as the two Uchihas passed by the cave. Once the two passed, he ran out of the cave and went after them.

Glancing upwards at the right-side of the mountain's tall wall, Gaara jumped up and caught the side of one bumpy edge before dragging himself up. Pushing back onto his feet he jumped onto the second one… Then after gaining enough height, he steadied himself on the bent rim and pulled his hands together, watching how after a couple of seconds time the lower sides of the mountain abruptly cracked and soon those huge crumbles started to fall – crashing to the ground and creating a dead end on the valley.

Itachi and Shisui stopped just as the crumbles of huge rocks came crushing down and blocking their way. Turning around, they blinked as they spotted the blind-boy standing twenty meters away from them. Both narrowed their eyes as they caught something unrecognizable forming behind the teen's back. Suddenly that _something _took a shape of a sharp piercing tail and stormed right at them.

"Move!" shouted Itachi and pushed dumbfounded Shisui out of the red-chakra-tail's way that missed and went easily stabbing itself into the created wall behind them – showing off an impressive outcome of what would've happened to the two Uchihas if it came in contact.

Staring at the wall, Shisui suddenly jumped up from his position on the ground as another tail came from beneath him and nearly got to him. Bringing his katana up, Shisui shoot up and went to cut the damn thing in half, yet it ended up with his katana being cut half instead. "Holly Shit!!" screamed Shisui, staring at his broken blade before he went wide-eyed as the tail went for him again. Ducking, Shisui cleared the tail's path to the second Uchiha standing behind him.

Turning his head reflexively to the side, Itachi glared at the red-chakra-tail that collided with the wall instead of his head and quickly ducked out of the way as the tail came around and pierced itself out of the wall almost stabbing him into the back of his scalp.

Sharing a quick glimpse, Itachi and Shisui then jumped up – trying to reach for the safety…

Seeing that, Gaara narrowed his eyes and slammed his left-fist against the wall he was leaning against…

As the two Uchihas tried to reach for the top, they were abruptly blocked by thousands of piercing sand-strong-shaped needles coming from both mountain walls' sides – creating a barrier above and trapping them in.

Landing back down, both were quickly cut off from their curses as the blond suddenly outstretched his both hands widely on both sides of himself and four of his visible chakra-tails went into the direction the hands were showing them – which was the walls. The tails loudly pierced themselves into the walls by the boy's both sides and then just as quickly they came out in front of him – going crisscross pass each other till they stabbed themselves into the opposite wall before coming out again… – Doing unpredictable and uneven zigzag movements throughout the walls they soon reached the two trapped Uchihas…

"Well fuck…" whispered agape Shisui.

* * *

Jumping out of the forest and coming into the clearing, Naruto soon reached the canyon. Putting some extra footage to gain speed, he finally reached a meter from the cliff's edge and jumped – going over the mile deep canyon below, and a bit painfully though he landed on the other cliff he was going for, which was four hundred meters away from the edge.

Tumbling till the stop, Naruto allowed himself to fall back onto his back and stay there for a couple of extra minutes to rest till he'll catch his breath. He felt like he just ran a whole marathon.

The shinobi of the _leaf _soon caught on and jumped out of the forest… only to stop once they neared the edge of the canyon.

Still breathing deeply, Naruto slowly sat up and turned his head over his shoulder listening as the _trackers_ halt by the edge he just jumped. Grinning, he let himself skip a chuckle at his own success before standing up and turning to face them with a pleased smile on his face.

Kiba and the rest glared at the amused teen and looked down the high edge, _'That would be painful…,'_ before averting their eyes to inspect the long distance from the other cliff they had to get on. _'What's wrong with those two?! All that they're doing is just impossible to attain!'_

Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Naruto turned around and made his way farther away from them… …till he finally came by the edge of the cliff he was on – and that's when he realized that he just landed on the secluded cliff, with the only way out of it would be whether to jump back where he came from in the first place (meaning – right into Konoha's claws) or climb down. However, if he is to do the latter, then it shall be the matter of speed, since the ninjas on the other side can climb down simply as well…

Turning around, Naruto faced the smirking nins with a slight scowl, who apparently also realized his setback. _'So be it!' _and with a last snarl he rushed to go down.

"Heh… we got him now," smirked Kiba and looked at Shino who pressed the button on his speaker. "Shikamaru…he's going down!" he informed shortly.

"Got it…!" came a lazy sigh on the other line.

Turning the radio out, the young Aburame exchanged glances with the others and with a curt nod they started to climb down as well.

* * *

Narrowing his brows, Naruto lowered his hands and let the chakra-tails fade away till disappearing completely. During time of Naruto's confusion Gaara landed next to him and stared at the sight of…_nothing_!?

'_Clones?!' _"Where are the real ones then?!" the red-head whispered in thought.

Turning his head around, Naruto sniffed the air trying to catch something referring to the two lost Uchihas, who disappeared into the smoke seconds after Naruto's tails pierced through them.

Suddenly a sparking sound echoed in his ears and Naruto gasped before quickly grabbing onto Gaara's wrist and yanking them both back and away – just before a huge explosion went off right above the two…

**BOOOOM!! **…Huge crumbles of exploded rocks crushed to the ground, shaking the earth.

Escaping the dangerous way, Gaara turned to look back at the huge mess yet flinched as another explosion erupt again high above them.

"Shit…" turning around, both rushed back down the path they previously used as a trap for the _Sharingan _users, as one after the other explosions went off and followed them in their getaway.

Reaching the dead-end both turned around just in time for the last explosion to erupt from that same mountain where this entire chase had started from… And soon after that last blast – a huge avalanche of rocks was created and went down…

Grabbing onto his head, Naruto knitted his already shut eyes even tighter and awaited for the pain, while Gaara glared at the crumbles going for them and outstretched his hands upwards…

**BOOOOOOM!!! ……… **Mass of rocks fall and crumbled to the crash – arising huge fog of sandy dust around the bottom of the 'grand mountain'.

Once the mass of floating dust finally cleared enough to see through, two dark figures appeared above the quite recently destroyed valley and where the buried 'brothers' now lay. Looking up at each other, the two pairs of eyes blazed with red of the _Sharingan_.

Whereas, deeply down bellow – buried in the dirt, Naruto set on the ground while Gaara stood in front of him with outstretched arms over his head, which sustained the floating sand and kept the rocks save in place and away from crushing onto them.

Bringing his right hand up, Naruto summoned his chakra, while Gaara watched him display it out.

The two Uchihas blinked at the strange sound of something akin to wind and abruptly jumped out of the way as the ground beneath gave a little shake before suddenly exploding to bits…

**BOOOOOOOOOM!!!**

Landing a couple of meters away, both Uchihas glared as two figures suddenly jumped out of the just destroyed crumbles and out free.

Landing behind the Uchihas, Naruto and Gaara wasted no time and pushed from their feet – quickly escaping into the forest.

Growling low in their throats, Itachi and Shisui followed suit.

"We will get nowhere if we are to fight with the two of them together. We have to separate them…" said Itachi, jumping onto the tree and pushing then past.

"Got it…" confirmed Shisui and suddenly disappeared.

Jumping from branch to branch, Gaara looked down at the running form of Naruto below him. "Keep your senses out front! One of them has detach-…" but before he could even finish the warning, three kunais abruptly flew right pass him from above and went for his best-friend below.

"Hm?!" startled, Naruto quickly slid to stop and hid behind the tree, sighing once the kunais missed and stabbed themselves into the ground by his feet… …However…

"Bomb!!" the sudden shout from Gaara made Naruto's head jerk up, yet it was too late…

**BOOOOOOOOM!!… **The wrapped tags around the kunais' handles exploded, and all Gaara could do is watch with wide-eyes as they went off right besides Naruto. Covering his face from the huge explosion, Gaara cursed as the wave of the explosion sent him far away and he crashed to the ground.

Coughing a bit of the dust in his mouth, Gaara blinked through the smoke and quickly looked up, catching a sight of a shadow going down on him. Dodging the figure and jumping away, he landed into the clearing and glared at the long-haired Anbu, who landed five meters in front of him.

"Hello, you little devil in disguise!" smirked Shisui and cracked his knuckles.

* * *

Coughing an impressive quantum of blood out of his throat, Naruto supported himself onto his knees and hands before slowly crawling out from under the demolished area of fallen trees and smoke caused due to that bloody explosion.

Grabbing onto one of the lying trees, Naruto pushed himself out from under the crumbles and dropped his tired body on the thick bole; all the while trying to pray his jammed ears back to their senses – the explosion was so powerful that it blocked him from his hearing.

"Curse those Uchihas!" regaining enough of the lost senses, Naruto tried to push himself up onto his shaking hands again, yet he suddenly gasped as he was yanked onto his feet by the not too gentle grab of his upper arms and was momentarily thrown to the side into one of the still standing trees.

Groaning as his blooded body collided with the bole of hard wood, Naruto turned around and was quickly jammed into his stomach by a painful kick of the fist, which made him bend from the pressure and distantly hear a couple of bones breaking inside.

"How many times did I had to repeat myself for you to understand, Naruto-kun?!" spoke a calm voice of Itachi.

"…" gritting his teeth, Naruto gasped as he was suddenly grabbed by his throat and slammed back into the tree behind – cracking it slightly.

"By crossing the line you cross the death of the path… Digging yourself deeper into the pit of the abyss is as pointless as the attempts of the failure." grabbing hold of his katana's handle, Itachi slid it out of its scabbard. "Did you honestly _think _that you could fool someone with that pathetic act of yours for long?!" gripping at the handle tighter, he placed the sharp blade by Naruto's neck.

"W-what…are you t-talking about…?!" hissed the blond.

Frowning, Itachi tightened his hold on the boy's throat. "It's pointless to deny things now. You already made too many mistakes… Mistakes you will soon wish were but a pitiful dream in your mind."

"Ahh…" gapping for the air, Naruto clawed onto Uchiha's wrist holding his wind-passage.

Hardening his jaw, Itachi continued, "You are an open book, Naruto-kun. …Every move you made…every step you took… That mystery of yours…that _hatred_ towards Konoha… All that is _you_ was but a fool's game from the very beginning! Did you really think you could simply hide behind the obvious?!"

Coughing a bit of the air out, Naruto lowered his head and suddenly started to lightly shake with small laughter.

Itachi blinked at that.

Chuckling, Naruto swallowed a bit of the air and choked out hoarsely, "I…If I was such a _f-fool _in your eyes… W-why does it seem to me that _you_ are the _o-only one_ to know all that as an obvious lie?! Why didn't y-you tell on me then?! T-that really makes me wonder w-where did that t-trust to the 'precious' _Yondaime _of yours went to…?!"

Staring at the chuckling boy for a moment, Itachi lowered the blade from the boy's neck and suddenly stabbed Naruto's left shoulder with it.

"AAAhhhh… YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH!" Naruto let out a startled scream.

Leaning over, the ebony-haired whisper into his ear, "What did I warn you about, Naruto-kun?! If there will be but a single word about the Naminkaze… _I_ will be the one to bringing the _pain_!"

Growling low, Naruto grit his teeth, "Y-you talk like you think you know my goals…!? My desires…!? …intensions!?" coughing a bit more, he hissed out, "… …W…what do you know about me anyway… WHO GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO BELIEVE YOU KNOW ANYTHING?!" bringing his foot suddenly up, Naruto viciously pushed the startled Uchiha into the stomach and far away from him.

Grabbing hold on the katana, Naruto yanked it out of his shoulder and fell onto his knees. Gasping for the air, he then shot up to his tumbling feet and ran off.

'_He's fast once his on the run…'_ thought Itachi and jumped after him from the ground.

* * *

Finally landing down the canyon, Naruto turned around and froze… Right before him (about ten meters) suddenly appeared about fifteen men – all surrounding and cornering him into the cliff's wall.

Tilting his head to the side, Naruto set his mouth in a thin line. _'Bummer…'_

"Surrender Naruto-kun! And we won't be compelled to use force!" shortly warned the deep voice of Asuma.

Frowning, Naruto restrained his hands from clenching. "Why do you keep pursuing us anyway? Wasn't our help to th-… …village enough?! What more do you want?" he restrained his tongue from forming out something he shouldn't.

"Safety precautions first and foremost!" answered the man. "Now…will you come quietly?" By that time the _trackers _appeared around as well.

Naruto scowled as he heard Akamaru grit his teeth at him, while Kiba held him still.

"That sure is a nice dog you have there, Kiba…" whispered the blond through his teeth.

"Heh…it didn't take long for him to solve you out, Naruto" grinned the young-Inuzuka while holding the large dog from jumping him.

'_Is that so…'_ lowering his head, Naruto took in the silence of the time and slowly unlocked the sealed gates of his inner-consciousness – releasing the hidden strength of the Nine-Tails into his body… just for a certain mutt to sense.

"GRRrraaarr…" Akamaru started to fight Kiba's hold harder, making the teen slightly uneasy.

'… _yes… that's it…' _inwardly smirked Naruto and unleashed more of the sustained power of the demon.

"Damn it, Akamaru! Keep still!!" tried Kiba as his dog started to brawl.

'…_come… come here…' _urged the mocking voice to Akamaru's ears only.

"GGRRRAAAaa…" suddenly Akamaru broke free and charged, pushing the startled ninjas out of his way as he rushed to the blond teen.

'_I am sorry to be using you like this Akamaru…' _bringing his hand up, Naruto narrowed his brows and smacked the dog hard into the head with the back of his hand.

Yelping in pain, Akamaru hit the ground hard and tumbled to the other ninjas.

Taking his opened advantage, Naruto jumped over the preoccupied nins and landed behind them. Shooting back to his feet, he escaped away.

"THAT LITTLE BRUTE!!" growled Kiba as he treated to his dog while the rest cursed and stormed after the named one.

Running down the clear path and dodging the thrown weapons, Naruto searched for a way to lose them. _'There!'_ finding a naturally strong energy radiating from a high mountain not too far off, he pushed from his feet and jumped on a small cliff before changing his direction and heading for the said mountain – about a mile away.

"H-he's heading for the heights again!" informed Hinata, seeing the blond clearer than others.

"Block his way! Don't let him get to the highest of the mountains! If he'll get there before us, we will lose him!" informed Shikamaru and jumped with half of the shinobi after the teen while the other half nodded before spreading into different directions.

* * *

Rustle of leafs, flashes of wind and rapid breathing of himself was all that was heard to Naruto's ears… save the four man gang still chasing him.

'_D-dam it!' _Sensing them gaining up on him, Naruto abruptly jumped down from the high tops of the trees and changed his course.

The ones behind him gave a slight smirk, and soon caught up with the blond who was slowly running out of his strength and thus his speed. "Seems that even the _unorthodox_ has its limits." smirked Orochimaru and pushed farther off with his students in tow.

The night was approaching fast, that could be told by the way the night's darkness flowed the day's after storm cleared sky – leaving early stars as the only thing giving the light to the sceneries…save the slow rise of the moon.

Jumping from one branch onto the other, Naruto suddenly yelped as he fell to the even ground instead of landing onto a tree. Cursing himself for not sensing it faster, he stumbled to his shaking feet and quickly examined the area, guessing that he just led himself into a meadow. _'… … …'_ Taking a few needful breaths and keeping comments to himself, he clenched his stomach's wound tighter and forced himself to move, having no time to rest.

Appearing in the clearing as well, the four figures gave a faint smirk and went after the struggling blond… catching on faster than predicted.

"We got 'im now!" widening his smirk the _snake-_Sannin reached for the blond…

…But before he could as much as touch him…, there was suddenly a flash of some sort and all he saw was a light color of yellow before he was punched into his face with a heavy fist that sent him far away to crash painfully to the ground.

Sounds of abrupt loud groans, shouts, curses and lots of tumbling were voiced before Orochimaru opened his eyes… only to see that he and his students just ran right into Minato and his group. However apparently he was the unlucky-one and _ran_ right into an angry red-head's fist, which was like a physically sent message for him to not even dare touch his brother.

All of them were breathing deeply from their positions on the ground whilst keeping unblinking hawk-eyes watch on the two brothers in the middle.

From the look of it, Naruto was breathing the heaviest while being securely held to his feet by the red-head, who glared at Konoha's shinobi.

Straightening back onto his feet, Minato finally broke the tense silence, "There's no point in escaping us now Gaara." He spoke in a mature, yet seemingly also quite tired (from all that chase and meaningless headache) voice, "You and your brother are surrounded! Give up already! And there shall be no harm d-…!"

Coughing a bit of the blood out, Naruto interrupted Minato's words and clenched onto Gaara's shirt tighter as he felt his knees go weak again. Gaara skipped him a quick glimpse before glaring up at the ninjas at fault. _'No harm shall be done, huh?! Yea… like if I would believe that.'_ Clenching the handle of the long katana (he managed to 'borrow' during the _trip_), Gaara pulled it up.

The ninjas around tensed and reached for their own weaponry. "Drop your weapon, Gaara!" grabbing hold of his own katana ordered the elder blond.

Frowning, Gaara held the blade tighter and placed it over Naruto's shoulder while supporting the said 'brother' to his feet by tightening the hold on his middle-back. "I already told you… We are not going back! Our devoir has been accomplished… We hold no more _bonds _to the village of the Leafs."

"What do you mean? What's all this nonsense that you are speaking off?!" demanded the angry and very confused voice of Minato.

"It is out of my obligation to answer it. Our asset to the Konoha was enough proof that we hold no ill intensions. We risked our lives to protect that village… That is all that is to be known. Now I ask you to let us go…"

"You destroyed one third of the village's area while trying to 'save' it!" abruptly roared the voice of the Inuzuka. "How can you expect us to believe you have no intentions of destroying it all together?!"

Hearing the comment, the blind-boy let out a sudden amused chuckle. "T-that was j-just an _accident_," he whispered loud enough for the rest to hear, yet couldn't help but smirked into Gaara's chest.

"In order to save one thing you must bear the consequences," covering his 'brother', explained Gaara, though he still dug his nails into Naruto's waist as of warning for his previous actions, daring him to even try and do it again.

Hissing, Naruto grit his teeth in the teen's shirt, _'So what?! It's not like I actually _succeeded_ in destroying the darn village!'_ he growled in his mind before abruptly letting loose a large cough and letting his knees go limp.

Dropping the katana, Gaara quickly caught him before he could hit the ground and lowered them both down.

Taking that as an opened chance to strike, Sasuke and Suigetsu grabbed a set of kunais and within a blink of an eye threw them at the two forms… yet as soon as the sharp blades reached the area around the two 'brothers' – the sand instinctively shot out and caught them.

Lowering their hands the teens glared at the outcome.

"So that would be the elder's defense then, hm!?" smirked Orochimaru, very impressed.

The moon finally peaked form under the high trees and settled its light above the whole area of the meadow…

Frowning at the just spotted sight of something akin to a green-liquid leaking from the deep wound implied in Naruto's stomach's side (shone by the new light), Minato turned his head to the left and looked questionably at Orochimaru, who gave him an arched brow in response.

"It was necessary…" clarified the Sannin and looked back at the discovered sand 'dancing' around the boys. "Besides… you have no idea what it took me and the others to deal with _him_," he hissed and stirred his tongue in his mouth slightly.

"Why isn't your wound healing?" silently asked Gaara trying to pray the blond's stubborn hand from infecting the wound more.

"I-it's too deep… and poisoned…" silently whispered Naruto between coughs, pulling his hand away for a few seconds to show him the green liquid deeply implied into the blood.

"Just hang on! It won't be long now…" assured the elder and looked back up at the silent, unmoving _leafs_.

"Easy for you to say… you're not the one holding this jutsu," Naruto wished he could glare at the emotionless red-head.

"But I'm there to help you maintain it…"

* * *

Catching the sight of the blond, Itachi suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of him.

Stumbling to the stop, Naruto frowned at the figure standing in his way. "What do you want?!" growled Naruto, clenching Itachi's katana with his left hand while holding the wounded shoulder with his right. "Haven't I already made myself clear enough? Why can't you just leave me alone?!"

"I am here to take you back to the village Naruto-kun, which is under the order."

Clapping his teeth together at the calm voice the Uchiha used, Naruto growled out, "Do you even now anything that exists besides the _order_?" suddenly he disappeared.

Blinking, Itachi quickly squatted down as the blond appeared behind him and directed the blade towards his neck. Using the position to his advantage, he tried to sweep the blond's legs out of balance…

…Sensing the move, Naruto jumped up and with almost invisible turn he punched the Uchiha into his face with his foot – crushing the Anbu mask into pieces.

Taken by surprise, Itachi fell to the ground. Glaring at the teen, he whipped his mouth and blinked as he spotted blood. _'Now that's something.' _quite impressed he thought before taking out a kunai and charging at Naruto.

Responding to the move, Naruto also charged – colliding the katana with the kunai.

Separating both clang their weapons again…again…and again, making little sparkles light every time the blades met and brushed against each other.

Getting annoyed at this seemingly never-ending dance, Naruto started to wave the katana like a loose maniac. _'Tch… Why can't I hit him?!'_ swinging to the left – to the right, above and below, Naruto thought he was gonna go nuts unless the darn Uchiha will ever be still and stop dodging him.

Finally…, ducking from the kunai going for his face, Naruto sliced a deep wound on Itachi's thigh. _'HAaa! Take that!' _"AaAAAhhhhh… WHAT A HELL, YOU FUCKING CARRION!?" firstly Naruto cheered, yet then he yelled since Itachi gutted his arm in return and made him drop the katana.

Moving fast, Naruto quickly grabbed onto Itachi's wrist, before he could retreat it back from his wound, and twisting the arm, Naruto swung him around and slammed him hard into a nearby tree. Wasting no time, he plugged his clawed hand into his back…, but suddenly the body in front of him turned into a log.

"Ah…" gasping at the surprised outcome, Naruto turned around only to get pierced into the stomach by the recently dropped katana.

Nailing the blond to the tree, Itachi clenched the handle of the katana tighter for it to not slip and leveled himself with the blond's face, breathing heavily. "I can't really say I planned for it to go this way… however…, _you_ left me with no choice."

Grabbing the blade with his shaking hands, Naruto tried to pull it out, however that only resulted for Itachi to glare and plug it back deeper in.

"A-Ahh…" knitting his brows, Naruto let out harsh gasps of dying breath and gripped the blade harder, making his palms bleed.

"The inner walls of your stomach were not pierced to the fatal point. Don't make me change it! So I suggest you surrender!" commended the young-Uchiha.

Coughing out a gush of blood, Naruto grit his teeth, which now held the red color of blood, and responded by trying to get the blade out of his stomach again.

'_Pointless!'_ frowning at the boy's fatal struggle, Itachi spoke through clenched teeth, "You're making it much harder than it needs to be." deepening his frown he started to turn the blade to the side, practically opening the boy's stomach.

"…AH-AAaaahhh…"

"Surrender Naruto-kun! And I will stop."

Gasping harder than previously, Naruto spat, "F…f-fuck…you…"

Sighing, Itachi placed his other free hand by the teen's head for the support and leaned over. "What are you planning to achieve with this meaningless struggle?! Give up… Otherwise you shall die from the bleeding!" he whispered by the blond's ear, all the while arching a brow at the weird structure of its form, before averting his eyes to look at the tan collarbone moving alongside the breathing chest.

Restraining the sudden urge to trace it, for abstruse reason, Itachi narrowed his eyes and questioned in a silent whisper, "Whatever are you gonna do now… I wonder?!" for some reason his mind just let it be asked, because he got a strange feeling that this is far from over.

"…ngh…ghaa…" coughing out more of the blood, Naruto's left-hand shakily let go of the grasped blade and reached out to clench the Uchiha's shirt, staining it. Forcing the felt pain in his cut palm away, he kept Uchiha close as he used the last whiffs of his breath to whisper out hoarsely, "I…I'm gonna k-kill…_him_…"

Jerking quickly back, Itachi's eyes only manage to catch the glimpse of the boy's smirk before that said boy suddenly disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the startled Uchiha alone with the implied katana in the bare tree.

'_A clone?! …?! … ?!…' _blinking, Itachi's eyes slowly narrowed in anger,_ 'A FUCKING CLONE??'_ growling low in his throat, he kicked the tree – implying a deep hole. "BRAT!!" yelled the very frustrated _prodigy_ and yanked the blade out of the cracked wood. Clenching the handle, Itachi stared at the ground, as if trying to set it all on fire. _'This is outrageous!'_ for no-one ever tricked an Uchiha – especially the one by the name of the fuckin' Itachi…

Turning his glare back on the tree bole, Itachi's raged breathing slowly started to turn even and suddenly a rather amused smirk spread across his features, "Interesting…, this is _very_ interesting indeed, Naruto." sheathing his katana, he turned around and jumped up to the trees. Pressing then the button on his speaker, Itachi spoke, "Namikaze-sama… …"

* * *

"Understood," confirming, Minato turned the radio off and sighed out in whisper, "So it comes to only two left."

Catching the words the rest turned to him. "Is it the elder or the second?" asked Kakashi for clarification.

"The latter. Itachi just confirmed on his clone's disappearance."

"Most believingly it shall be the one Asuma has eyes on which will dissolve next. So the younger of the two is clearly this one right here. However there's still no news from Shisui and what's his situation with the elder of brothers."

Frowning at Inuzuka's cheep words, Minato retorted, "Appearance gives you nothing from what we already confirmed… Mind that!!"

"Could be…, but as Orochimaru said so himself – that boy went through blood and did not dissolve." The other ninjas thought, nodding towards hardly breathing Naruto in the middle of the meadow.

"That is just a theory…" mumbled the _snake _Sannin under his breath.

"Don't make me repeat myself," growled Minato, "So far we mistook _every _detailed aspect of the two for the waste. They aren't just opponents we can simply mess around with. The brothers' strength is a pure mechanism of power and perfection. It's almost as if we're up against the _ultimate weapons_…"

* * *

'_Two more cliffs to go!' _thought Naruto and prepared to jump over the edge, however he suddenly stopped as he sensed ten _Byakugan_ users land on the cliff he was about to jump on and block his further path. "Shit," standing by the sharp edge of a cliff, Naruto turned around and cursed again as the nins that were tailing him already caught up.

"Tch…" snarling, Naruto took three-four steps back forward and jumped down the edge, landing in an old lane formed between those two cliffs.

Half of the _leaf _nins chasing Naruto followed his example and landed in the lane, while the others stayed on top and tried to outrun the boy from above…

Running down the path for minutes, Naruto suddenly gasped and slowed down till he stopped right by the tall wall in front of him. _'Dead end?!'_ Looking up, he sniffed the air and frowned once he sensed ninjas standing proudly atop of it, waiting and staring down on him. Turning around, Naruto silently growled since the rest of them caught up and he was yet again cornered from all sides.

Finding no gap or hole to crawl into, he took a small step back. _'What now?!' _Just as Naruto took the backward step, he flinched as he felt something suddenly take a secure hold on his feet and his whole body froze under a _shadow_-jutsu. _'D-damn it…'_

"Sorry, but I'm not taking any more chances… You are coming with us!" clarified the voice of a well known lazy-nin.

* * *

Trying to re-catch his breath, Shisui glared at the sand that floated around the whole area down beneath him, teasing him and simply waiting for him to come down from that high tree he was on. _'What's up with this sand-jutsu?! Doesn't it have its limits!? Go away already!' _inwardly growled the Uchiha before looking to the side and grinning at the red-head, who was calmly leaning against one of the trees with closed eyes and crossed arms while that floating sand moved pass his feet.

"Hey now little one! I know we sort a…umm…_didn't_ come out by the best terms in getting acquainted with each other. But well …you know… I mean I hold no bad intentions what-so-ever…and I can honestly tell that I most certainly didn't _mean_ to kill your brothe-… I mean… Fuck! Ok now that didn't come out well…" ducking quickly behind the thick tree-bole, Shisui flinched as a sharp sand-made-sword suddenly came piercing out from the said bole and right by his ear.

"I guess this means you won't go out with me then?!" Shisui's eyes widened even more as what seconds ago was a shaped sword suddenly took the appearance of a live sand-snake and hissed at him. "You know… you could have just said 'no'!" whined Shisui and jumped away from the snake who was about to bite his ear off.

Realizing his mistake, Shisui gasped as suddenly something grabbed his ankle and forced him down. Crushing to the ground, the young Uchiha _almost_ squeaked as he shot up to his feet and jumped back on the tree, because the sand was already there to 'eat' him.

Gaining enough high, Shisui stopped on a think branch and sighed in relief for escaping _that thing_ …However he couldn't help but fidgeted slightly as he felt something not quite right… Then it came, "Oh no!" turning around he came face to face with the red-head, who already rose his arm and smacked him with the back of his hand into the face, making his Anbu mask be tore off and him lose balance of the branch and go back to the ground.

Twitching in their air to not land on his back but his feet, Shisui quickly grabbed hold onto two of his kunais and sliced the sand as it went up for him. "Darn it… why is it so persistent?!" he roared at the sand, feeling himself growl at all this meaningless _dodging_ that was apparently all he could do for now… the sand just blocked every way he was trying to go.

Narrowing his eyes at the Uchiha, who, from the look of it, wasn't even trying much to do anything but dance around, Gaara sighed and jumped down from the tree. Once he landed, he carefully tapped his foot on the ground…

…Small roots dug themselves from underneath the ground and silently entwined themselves just around Shisui's ankles, before tightening harder and pressing his legs together, forcing him trip over his own moves.

"Gha…" startled, Shisui fell on his back and gasped as the sand quickly came from underneath him and circled around his waist, hands and legs – holding him securely down.

Struggling to get free, Shisui eyes abruptly did a double take and he froze still…as a small mountain of sand suddenly started to rose above him and took a shape of a sharp, pointy, glittering, large needle. _'Is th-this the end?!' _the young Uchiha stuttered in his mind, feeling his life run pass.

Narrowing his eyes, Gaara commanded the sand to move, which it momentarily did.

* * *

Staring up at the sight of beautiful stars shining the night's black cover, Gaara slowly blinked as a lonesome star abruptly fell. Closing then his dark-green eyes, he reached over and took the lying katana by Naruto's limp feet and brought it closer to himself before looking up at the tense and glaring shinobi surrounding them, yet not moving (there were about over thirty of them in whole).

It looked like everyone was waiting for the other to make the first move or maybe find some kind of an opening…, but in truth no-one dared go against the sand yet – most of them were too tired, however it shall be denied if must.

"You are very persistent, shinobi of Konoha…" Gaara abruptly spoke with empty emotion, startling some nins, "You hate to lose, as do Naruto and I… But every game has its limits and rules you should follow…otherwise there is no use or end to it."

"You think this is a _game_, Gaara?! A sick minded act of fun?" snarled the Namikaze.

"No… I don't think it is a game… I am merely expressing a fact of the next situation."

"And what is that supposed to mean." he hissed through his teeth.

"You can play the game by the rules… you can even break them if ya what…," silently coughed Naruto, "…, but how do you plan on winning if you can't even see the target of this 'game's' goal!?" before the confusing words could even sink in, the red-head suddenly raised the katana and stabbed Naruto in the heart without even blinking an eye, whereas Naruto plugged his whole hand into Gaara's chest in return.

The shinobi around gasped as the two brothers killed each other before falling limp to the ground…

Grin was the only expression that passed the blond's lips when suddenly he and the red-head disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the katana fall to the clear earth.

Regaining from his shocked state, Minato cursed. _'Fuck!! I _knew_ this will happen… Those two are just playing with us and killing the damn time right from our hands…'_

"B-bu…wh-whAA?! HOW? What is going on?! Those were _clones_? Jesus!! Where are the real ones then?!" abruptly growled clueless Suigetsu.

Turning his radio out, Gai quickly informed everyone of the news, "Listen! Neji just confirmed the held presence of the youngest of brothers still by the canyon. Luckily they got him cornered. That would mean he is the _one_!"

Right after him, Kakashi spoke with a frown, "Yes… however, there is still nor sign nor word from Shisui, his whereabouts and what's with the elder."

Concern was slightly visible in Minato's eyes before it was replaced by the depths of hatred and anger. "Assemble to the canyon. Now!" he nearly growled the order out.

"Sir!" confirming, everyone left without a trace.

Glaring at the night's darkness surrounding him, Minato clenched his katana and soon followed – vanishing in a swirl of leafs.

* * *

Gasping practically his soul out, Shisui blinked and blinked again as the thin, sharp, pointy end of the sand-needle suddenly froze right about two centimeters from his right-eye. After five seconds of time, it slowly retreated away from him…

'_W-what is going on?!' _mentally screamed shocked Shisui.

Knitting his eyelids a bit, Gaara blinked at the sudden appearance of the voice in his head and closed his dark-greens. _'It's time…'_

* * *

Tensing slightly, Naruto narrowing his brows as a whispered voice suddenly echoed in his head and he hummed. _'…time…'_

Blinking, Shikamaru's eyes suddenly widened as the blond started to bring his hands up by using the lightest of efforts, as if his 'Shadow-possession' jutsu wasn't even there to restrain him. _'W-what's up with this tremendous chakra?' _thought shocked _shadow_-user and tried to suppress the movements, yet the blond already pulled his hands together and started going through a set of hand-signs.

"Enough of this! Take him down!" yelled Asuma before grabbing hold of his knifes and charging at the blond with the rest under his command.

Grinning, Naruto quickly squatted down and slammed his both palms to the ground – cracking the surface and startling the others. All stopped, frightened of what would happen next…, however the most confusing thing was that absolutely _nothing_ happened!

The blond's grin suddenly fell and he let out a curse, which made everyone else smirk at his apparent failure …whatever it was?!

"That's what arrogance gets you to, boy!" teased the confident ninjas and fingered their weapons before charging onwards towards the distracted and mindlessly shocked teen.

They were mere seconds away from him when suddenly that slightly 'shock-looking' boy let out a mischievous grin pass his lips, _'Yes…, that's what it gets you indeed…'_ and pulled his hands away from the ground revealing two single seal-covered papers which were hiding under his palms till now. The papers blazed up…

Shikamaru's eyes widened and he quickly ceased the jutsu, "Shit!"

"What is he doing?!" panicked ninjas around and momentarily froze all together – confused as to why the boy simply set right in front of the soon-to-go-off explosion-tags.

"He's suicidal!!" one of them frantically yelled and started to hightail out of the dangerous area.

"No… he's a bait! It's a trap!!" elaborated Shikamaru, yelling the last part out for everyone to hear, before urging them all to retreat as far away as possible.

The explosion went off…

**BOOOOOOOOOM!!** – huge dust arouse as cliffs were destroyed and crumbled to small pieces – destroying and burying down the whole lane under huge pressure of cliffs' consistence.

Standing in a safe distance atop of one cliff's remaining parts, the shinobi of the _leaf_ sighed in relief for escaping the 'death' just in time.

Coming to stand by the edge, Shikamaru looked down the demolished lane filled with still poising dust and some small crumbled rocks falling and crumbling down the remains of the cliffs.

"Did he really kill himself?!" wondered some of the ninjas standing behind the deeply thinking lazy-one.

Frowning, Shikamaru scratched the bridge of his nose and replied, "It was a clone."

"This one should have been the real one! And when do you suppose he manage to make the second substitute?! I had my eyes on him the whole time. He couldn't have outsmarted the _Byakugan_…" narrowing his eyes, wondered Neji.

"Simple… it's because he and the second of brothers were clones from the _very_ beginning."

"So where are the real ones then?!"

Frowning at the floating smoke, Shikamaru looked to the side as he thought, _'The closer you are to your enemy – the…' _before he could voice the answer further in his mind, Minato and the group of other shinobi suddenly cut him by their rush appearance.

"Where is he?!" demanded one enraged Namikaze.

Turning to look over his shoulder at him, the Nara kid exclaimed, "They're _both_ in the village."

* * *

On the way Itachi spotted Shisui glaring at the empty spot with dying smoke around him – apparently signaling the fake substitute of the red-head, guessed Itachi and stopped.

Sensing the fellow comrade looking at him and perked on a branch behind, Shisui turned around with questioning eyes about the blond, to which Itachi merely closed his own and slowly shook his head.

"So I guessed…" sighed Shisui in disappointment.

"Did you inform the others?" asked Itachi.

"Yeah… I already told Asuma," grumbled in respond Shisui and ran his finger through his hair. "Damn it… I was _so_ sure our path will be the right one… Man, and I sooo wanted to rub it into Minato's face afterwards… Now that bastard shall laugh at me…Geezzz…" Just then someone decided to contact the two through the radio.

"Wanna bet that it's him right now?!" sarcastically growled Shisui and prepared to get an up-soon-coming lecture.

Pressing the button by the neck, both spoke in union, "Yes?!"

"Retreat back to the village, immediately!! The whole thing was a mere set up!" growled the harsh voice of seemingly very pissed Namikaze.

Both Uchiha's arched their brows and looked at each other, before Shisui smirked, _'H-he failed as well?! Sweet!!'_ crossing his arms, the smug look rose back onto his features as he prepared to tease the Hell out of the _junior_-Hokage, "Well-well…it looks like the all too famous Mr. Nami-…"

"SHUT YOUR TRAP SHISUI AND GET YOUR ASS MOVING BEFORE I LOSE IT AND KILL YOU MYSELF!" cutting in, roared Minato through the radio, making the young Uchiha visibly jump and yelp.

"Y…Y-yes s-sir…" shrinking squeaked startled Shisui at Minato's never experienced outburst and turned the radio out once he was disconnected. "G-God… Itachi, I think I just wet myself…" whispered still shaking Anbu as while Itachi passed him and was already on the move. "Come on…" he simply said and Shisui hesitantly followed.

* * *

Looking up at the moon, reflected in dark-green eyes before they lid close, a small sigh escaped from a shadow leaning against the Hokage-Tower's back wall. "It appears you succeed a new level. The timing is perfect," opening then his eyes once more, the shadow looked up at the figure sitting in a seldom tree a couple of meters away.

Shuffling slightly before jumping from the branch of the tree, the said figure emerged from the shadows, revealing the light of stunning golden locks shone by the moon.

"And you thought I couldn't get them away from the walls by the time morning comes," smirked the bright form of one Uzumaki Naruto.

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Gaara came from the shadows and stopped in front of him. "I guess it's time to finally take our leave then…"

* * *

_A/N_

_**è**__ – I guess I cut the previous chp a bit too blank & incomprehensible…, but I hope this one explained everything that was left unsaid in the 13__th__!?_

_In other words – all in all the shinobi of Konoha simply went through meaningless guess-chase led by fake brothers (aka – the clones), which were set by N&G from the time Sarutobi caught his eyes on their attempt to leave the village;)) That about sums it up!_

_& as for all this act the 'brothers'' clones did during this chapter by acting as if they're the real ones… I guess I just wanted to mess this whole 'porridge' for you more;) Had it worked or not, I don't know!?XD_

_**è**__ Anyway, thank you all so much for reviewing:_ BrokenBloodDrops; -emerald jaguar-; Piggy Kun; Kamerreon; Afira; greeneboy313; Absentminded Dreamer 1310; Eovin; ElementalFoxGoddess; PirateCaptainBo; Mandara; Zotikos; xXShadowedfateXx; Andromeda-Rayne & 890!

_**è **__replies to chp#13 reviews:_

890 – thanx!!XD

Andromeda-Rayne – thank ya!!XD

xXShadowedfateXx – you are quite close with that thoughtXD

Zotikos – thank ya!XD Well one think is sure… that I won't let them be caught as 'experiments', however… … … you'll see!XD

Mandara – thank ya so very much!XD I shall try to keep you interested!;))

PirateCaptainBo – XD I am so glad you enjoyed this story! Thanx you two so much!XD & as for Gennou…, he shall appear a tad bit later (maybe after the next chp… …I think?!;)) Anyways, I am surfing with my new free I-net;))

ElementalFoxGoddess – thank ya!XD The truth behind N&G will be revealed quite soon;))

Eovin – thank ya!!XD I hope this chp gave you the answer to the confusing end of the previous one;)) & yep, Naruto shall get his sight in due time:)

Absentminded Dreamer 1310 – thanx!!XD I bow to the congrats. & if you were talking about Gennou, then yes he knows… Sorry to make everything so confusing thoughXD But stick around – soon all of the mystery shall come to lightXD

greeneboy313 – thank you-thank you for that really!XD I shall try to keep it going faster (although it doesn't seem to be working muchXP lol);)

Afira – I guess I cut the end a bit too confusing, huh?! Sorry for that. I saved the explanatory for the next chp. XD

Kamerreon – thanx so much!!XD At least I can get Naruto punish Orochimaru somehow;))

Piggy Kun – you got it ;))

-emerald jaguar- – oh come on…, if I will tell you now it will spoil the surprise. Well… no, I shall be an ass & won't say XD (but I'll give you a clue… I already mentioned him;))

BrokenBloodDrops – XD oh no, I can't have them running around for long…, so I will 'doom' them a bit later;))

_**è**__ the next chp shall be the final battle… be it end or sth else…_

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	15. Chapter 15

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'_**Chapter 15'**_

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_A/N – This chp shall require patience… it is very long and at some point might be quite confusing due to the twist in the under-text…_

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Shadowed by the night's dark shadows and warming his hands in the pockets, Gaara stood atop of the village's proud wall with Naruto by his side.

It shouldn't be about two-three hours before the shinobi of Konoha will return from the setback done by the two 'brothers' with nothing but fury in their palms. However, that hadn't yielded the two teens the least freedom they both wished for …–… everything was just awaiting them both further off…

Looking down the tall village's wall that _bonded _him and Naruto from their freedom for so long, Gaara allowed himself to close his dark-green eyes for a few seconds (maybe to say a silent 'pray' or as much as a 'farewell') before opening them to peak at the still form of his best-friend, who had his back turned to the proud hamlet and looked as if watching the moon high above (if not for the blindfold shielding his sight). Lidding his eyelids slightly, Gaara's expression softened as he watched Naruto slowly lower his head and set his mouth in a thin line before knitting his brows together as if stopping himself from… … …what?! _'…speaking…?! …shouting…?! …crying…?!'_ Gaara couldn't figure. However he could most clearly feel that deeply down that barrier of rage, anger and pain stood a boy with teary eyes…, that boy was the child who felt deep love for the village _hidden in the Leafs_. It didn't matter how much Naruto denied it, Gaara knew that actually leaving this place…his home…will be the most painful thing Naruto will ever go through.

Taking Naruto's hand in his, Gaara straightened his features into an emotionless lack and spoke, "Ready?!"

Tightening a stronger hold onto the red-head's hand, Naruto gave a weak nod and with that both jumped over the wall. As soon as the feet contacted the ground, both shot up and stormed away from the walls and into the woods surrounding the area.

Running by and pass the seemingly never ending trees, Gaara held a strong hold on his 'brother's' hand while guiding him down the path of the dark forest. …It wasn't that Naruto couldn't keep up with him or sense where he was going that he had to hold his hand…, no…, it was the gesture that made them both know that they are in this together and they will see it through the end side by side.

_

* * *

_

"We're in position!" spoke a deep voice on the other line of the radio.

"Good! Do absolutely everything you must in order to stop them. Do not let your guard down no matter the situation… And do _not_ hold back on them – strike full force if you must!"

"Shall be done!"

Turning the radio off, Minato looked into the half demolished village through the broken, barely-standing gates.

"You think they will be able to hold them off before we arrive?" asked Orochimaru, slowly re-catching his breath as he came to stand by the glaring Namikaze.

"They have the power for it. At least one of them is sure to be brought down." Looking to his right, Minato watched as the rest of the nins finally arrived as well as the two Anbu who appeared besides Orochimaru. Frowning he finished the sentence, "He shall not escape the eyes of the _Sharingan_."

Turning to look at the Namikaze, one of the Uchihas narrowed his eyes at him whilst the other snarled before they both disappeared.

"…offending…" chuckled Orochimaru.

Ignoring him, Minato walking over to a tall man and whispered a few words, "Asuma. Find Gennou and put him under restrict surveillance. I shall deal with him myself once I get back."

Nodding, Asuma left with Shikamaru, Ino and Choji following.

"Listen up!" abruptly shouted the Namikaze, gaining the attention of many injured, tired and furious men. "The brothers have evacuated the village's walls. By now they must be about four hour interval from us. Everyone who has even the slightest thought of backing out now, please do so."

Seeing everyone look at him and not moving to stand up, Minato frowned, "Either way, the majority of you _must_ stay in the village."

As soon as he said that – a roar of protesting outburst splashed him right in the face; Minato guessed that every one of the men wanted a piece of the two brats; however, in this state the village cannot be left all but abandoned. "It is an order!" he harshly voiced above the shouts, making the others silently growl in argument, yet nod in the end. "I only require five squad groups. No injured! The rest please help the others and assemble to the Hokage's office!"

Turning to his three students behind him, Orochimaru arched a mockingly questioning brown, silently asking if they're still up for it or will they back down.

A frown, growl and a glared was all he got as an answer.

"Good…" smirked the Sannin.

_

* * *

_

Reaching a lonesome river streaming in the middle of the forest's area, Naruto felt Gaara take its course and guide them both along the stream. Taping of feet together with small splashes of water was all that Naruto could distantly hear before the presence of a voice in his head made itself be known once again and slowly fogged everything around him.

'…_blood… pain… …lust… – lust for _his_ blood… …avenge… …kill him… …kill… …kill… … …'_

Frowning at the nature's sounds coming back to his ears and the voice slowly fading off, Naruto set his mouth in a thin line but kept the knowledge to himself – saying nothing. Mindlessly he missed a knowing look from Gaara who narrowed his eyes at him before looking back where he was taking them.

'_What have I done…' _inwardly judging himself thought the red-head and mentally prepared himself for the inevitable.

Grasping Naruto's hand tighter, Gaara put some extra footage for the speed and suddenly they both jumped – going down the end of the river and the beginning of a long waterfall (two-hundred meters).

Diving in the widened lake below, both expanded their hands wide in order for them to not go deeper and swam to the surface.

Pushing above the waters, Naruto settled himself on the wet-surface and re-caught his breath while trying to squeeze the extra weight of water from his hair. Standing behind his back, Gaara was also breathing deeply while looking at the fading moon – measuring the time. It appeared they've been running for nearly five hours… and by the look of it, the morning was slowly approaching. And the approach of distantly forming thick clouds made it seem that the scenery for this day shall be 'perfect'.

"This isn't an enemy we are to fight, Naruto… Please remember that." Gaara's abrupt words made Naruto froze and scowl afterwards. He could easily tell that it was a spoken warning for him to not go beyond the forbidden-line.

Looking at Naruto down and over his shoulder, Gaara's frown deepened once he saw the blond try to keep his clawed fingers from clenching into fists.

"Don't make me do what I don't want to," whispered the red-head and watched as the blond finally stood up and turned to snarl at him,

"As if you actually can…" Gaara's eyes darkened and he was tempting enough to punch some sense into the young fool, yet that chance was ripped away from him by the sudden sounds of metals cutting through the air and darting towards them from every angle.

Sending each other a mental glare, 'brothers' quickly knocked the chakra balance off their feet and let themselves go down under the water just before the sharp kunais and shurikens collided with one another instead of their target and fell into the water – sinking down.

Kicking from the lake's bottom ground, Naruto shot up and jumped out of the water. As soon as he landed back on the surface – a mass of four burning huge fire-balls were shot at him from all four angles…

Quickly going through a set of one-arm hand-signs, Naruto felt the water by his feet start moving in a circle before quickly arising up and forming a long, protective tube around him…

The fire-balls collided and dissolved by the strong circling cylinder.

"…tch…" silent snarl from some men made Naruto realize the distance he had from his opponents…

…And before anyone knew it, the form of the previously created cylinder divided into four long parts and transformed into four large dragons – all charging to the different directions.

Coming to the surface, Gaara balanced himself onto his feet and pressed his back to Naruto's, all the way watching as four gigantic dragons shielded them away from harm and attacked a group of over thirty men with unmistakable blood-red-eyes surrounding.

'_Why did it have to be them?' _gritting his teeth, Gaara then glanced at his 'brother' who had a deeply blank expression set on his features. _'Naruto… please don't…'_

As of mocking the red-head's wishes, Naruto brought his palms up and placed them together; Gaara's eyes widened as his please were mercilessly crushed.

Parting his hands slowly away from each other, Naruto smiled as little sparkles of electric-like chakra passed from one finger to the opposite, and soon small waves of wind started to come in and circle in between his palms – slowly taking a form of a tiny ball which abruptly grew with each reach his hands parted away from one another. The ball reached the size of a kick ball… when suddenly Naruto smirked and pressed his palms back together, crushing the wind-ball in between. As soon as the dust of crushed wind disappeared, Naruto parted his hands again and grinned as the inside of his palms now held two scratched swirls.

Looking at the blond over his shoulder, Gaara's expression held nothing, yet on the inside it was something between panic, worry, anger and frustration; he looked away as the wind picked up and the morning's promising sky soon thickened with gathering clouds. Suddenly something started to move beneath him and Naruto; looking down, Gaara blinked at a circle of Naruto's red-chakra moving by their feet and preventing them from the harm of the next step that the blond was ready to unleash…

Outstretched his hands a little to the front, Naruto felt the scarred swirls color with his gushing blood and right soon after – small lines of wind obediently started to come to his palms, where they began to move in small circles. Soon the shape of little growing tornados formed above his palms and mixed themselves with his blood.

"Hahahahahaaa…" amused by the force of the natural power, Naruto suddenly let the tornados fall from his hands… As soon as the contact with the lake's surface was made – the two tornados momentarily thickened and stretched out till the very sky was forced in their mix.

The red-eyed shinobi halt in their fight against the huge water-dragons only to see them parish away as a mass of two swirling winds took their place.

Gaara brushed his waving hair from his face and stared with wide eyes as the two nature disasters disturbed the lake's water and started to mercilessly rip the trees from the sides whilst continuing to b up…

_

* * *

_

"My God… do you see that?!" stopping in their run, the shinobi of Konoha stared in amazement at the far away (four-six miles) developing white-thick tubes of wild-winds.

'_This is unreal…'_ leering at the sight himself, Minato then cursed and shouted to everyone to keep with the pace.

_

* * *

_

Secured by the circling red-chakra, which prevented the forces to take him and Naruto in, Gaara could only stare as the struggling ninjas were taken by the rampageous winds and forced in. Screams of agony, fright and pain was what was heard above the whole chaos.

The blast of abrupt lightning made Gaara flinch. Leering up at the sky, he cursed as the clouds were lightened by beautiful but very dangerous light. Yet what really bothered him was that it wasn't the production from the nature's hands, but a madly grinning blond's.

"What are you doing Naruto?" almost frightened to ask out loud, Gaara whispered.

"Each of these two tornados contain a drop of my blood. The faster the circles go – the faster the cells of my blood spread over everything that is held inside the tornados. And once a little lightning from the sky shall struck inside the tornado – it shall hit that, what or who has even came in contact with my blood cells…" grinned Naruto and outstretched his right-hand above his head, ready to command the awaiting force to strike, "… In other words – I am going to _fry_ them!"

Firstly Gaara took it as one of Naruto's so loved dark-jokes, but as soon as the tan fingers started to give a little twitch all was over…

"NO!!" the red-head suddenly shouted and grabbed the blond's outstretched arm and quickly twisted it behind Naruto's back; the lightning shoot itself and missed the targeted tornado, growling out a loud blast and lighting itself in between the tornados.

"LE' ME GO!!" yelled Naruto and tried to punch Gaara into the stomach, yet the red-head caught the elbow going for his gut and without as much as a regret he broke Naruto's twisted wrist.

"AAAahhh-…" clenching his teeth to silence himself, Naruto quickly ceased the jutsu and let the loud tornados dispel along with the lightning.

Gaara let the blond go and watched as he dropped to his knees holding his twitching muscle and broken bone.

'_From now on this will be the only way to stop him…'_

Keeping his frown, Gaara looked just in time to see the dazed ninjas along with everything else fall from the sky and luckily land into the water that softened their fall.

'… …_lost trust… …betrayal… …never forget… …never forgive… …'_ Whimpering slightly, Naruto groaned as the voice in his head came back again. Ripping away his bandanna, he grabbed a fistful of his hair to control the mental pain he received while trying to force the determined sounds in his head to disappear.

Carefully watching the surroundings, Gaara blindly took Naruto by his waist and helped him to stand up. "Come on! We have to leave while we have the chance," the red-head ushered silently, catching the sight of enraged and badly wounded and scratched (by the tornados' cutting winds) shinobi slowly but surely arise from the water. It wasn't that he was afraid of fighting them… it was that he was afraid of letting Naruto any looser than he already is now.

Taking his hand away from his hair and clenching his slowly healing arm instead, Naruto regained his rapid breathing and allowed the red-head to bring him to his feet, staying quiet all the time.

Keeping a careful eye on the held blond, Gaara gazed back at the dazedly standing _Sharingan_ users and quickly outstretched his hand to the side – silently commanding the sand to rise and sink into the river.

Glaring at the teens the Uchihas prepared to leap, but suddenly a tentacle-like-things – formed from the mixed water-weeds and muddy-sand – came out and restrained them from moving by entwining their feet and forcing their hands apart. Growling and struggling, the Uchihas turned to the red-head and activated their bloodline…, however what shocked them next was when they realized that the red-head wasn't even looking them in the eyes but below.

'_How does he know?!'_ inwardly roared the mature voices and kept on fighting against the unimaginable force of the wet sand. There was no point to even try anything on the blond-boy… – …he was blind.

While Gaara was busying himself with the nins out front, he failed to notice one creeping behind him, however Naruto didn't…but that didn't keep him from staying quiet till the last second, thus giving the red-head his twisted payback for the broken arm…

"…watch your back…" the blond's lazy, empty, barely hearable whispers made the startled red-head quickly turn around and almost get pierced into the face with a kunai. Ducking from the kill, Gaara punched the unseen Uchiha into the chin before kicking him far away.

'_I had enough of this!' _Sending a glare at the unmoving and smirking blond, Gaara suddenly raised a hand and smacked Naruto hard on the cheek with the back of his hand for playing with his life so easily.

Falling onto the wet surface, Naruto knitted his brows and struggled back up.

"I warned you, brother!" hissed the red-head walking closer to the blond.

Spitting some blood from his mouth, Naruto straightened to his feet. "_You_ should have known better, Gaara!" he hissed back, forcing his almost healed arm into a fist. "I…Do…Not…Heed…Warnings!" feeling the anger start to boil in his guts, Naruto marched forward and suddenly reached out before punching the red-head cross into the face.

All wide-eyed Uchihas frowned in deep confusion, understanding nothing of what's going on between those two.

Tumbling slightly backwards, Gaara opened his knitted lids to scowl at the blond before leashing out and grabbing him by the collar which in process made Naruto grab his and both raised their fists angling them to the face… yet before they could start a bloodshed by themselves a kunai with explosion tag suddenly stabbed Naruto in the shin.

"Ahh…" while Naruto gasped from pain, Gaara gasped at the realization before quickly kicking the kunai out of his yelping friend's leg with his foot (ripping a piece of flesh in the process) and pushing them both away as the bomb exploded above the water besides them.

**BOOOOOOOM!!!... … …**

Falling into the water from the forced compact, Gaara and Naruto regained enough strength to not go unconscious and swam to the surface.

"Gha…" gasping for air, the 'brothers' helped each other out and above the disturbed lake's surface.

Cowering his coughing mouth from the spread dust of the explosion, Gaara blinked the smoke full teary eyes and grabbed coughing Naruto by the wrist – to know that he is there and to restrain him from charging at that what he is seeing now.

Since his jutsu was disturbed the moment Naruto punched him, Gaara could see the blazing eyes of the freed Uchihas and something else… The amount of their people seemed to be slightly increased – although it was by the presence of the two, it still was a problem since it was Itachi and Shisui.

'…_kill…' _was the conclusion to everything that Naruto was thinking right now whilst he treated to his newly 'dug' wound on the leg (that almost turned out to be a burned beefsteak), knowing all too well who to blame and whose gravestone he shall mark…

'…_Uchiha Itachi…'_

…However, before the tempting fantasies fulfilled themselves, Gaara clenched his wrist tighter and suddenly he was yanked into another running spare.

"W…what a hell, Gaara…" frowned the blond while being tugged by the sprinting red-head.

Frowning himself, Gaara only responded by tightening his hold and pushing the speed up. _'This is bad… I can't allow him to fight them…especially now. Dam it!! … How can I make him understand that?!…' _Gaara found himself left with lesser and lesser options considering the mental condition of his best-friend. He couldn't let him out of his sight now that they had half of the Konoha after them – especially _those_ who Naruto hates because of the past… It shall be like letting loose a mad creature with the only knowledge that it has is a picture of a ripped blood.

'_Dealing with clones was one thing…'_ thought the red-head. He was always there and restrained Naruto from commanding his clones to cross the forbidden borders (kill the opponent)… But now when it comes to the 'real-thing'…?! …?! …_ 'What am I going to do?! …What _am_ I to do if he meets _him_?!'_

Looking over his shoulder, the red-head spotted the chasing shinobi about sixty meters distance. _'Lose them… I must lose them!'_ taking a sudden turn to the side, Gaara squeezed Naruto's hand – for him to pay attention – and said, "Conceal your chakra, now!" ordered the red-head and watched from the corner of his eye as the blond gave a slight frown but did as was told (though it was after more than the darn half minute).

Nodding, Gaara abruptly pushed his speed and took them both deeper into the dark-woods.

The slow gathering of a morning's cool dew arose a thick fog around the whole area – blinding the forest's depths and giving the 'brothers' a chance.

Crossing a flow, jumping over the hillside of some sort and after running silently almost a mile in the shadows – going crisscross and mixing the way –, Gaara finally stopped by a small hill's cave and looked to all of the directions. The silence of the forest and chirping of the birds encouraged him to believe that he had lost the Uchihas and gained time. Turning then to the blond, Gaara placed his hands on Naruto's shoulders and beckoned him to the hill's wall.

"You know fully well what I want from you, Naruto. And do not make me repeat myself once more…it shall not be to your likings."

Scowling at his apparently angry friend, Naruto turned his face away with a loud snarl.

Frowning at the ignorance, Gaara hissed, "Be grateful that it was just an arm this time around…" outstretching a single clawed digit he placed it slightly above Naruto's right-chest and pressed. The contact made Naruto momentarily jerk and smack Gaara's hand away. Replacing the spot with his left-hand, as if shielding it away, Naruto frowned and grit his teeth at him.

Retreating his arm slowly away, Gaara glared at the blond. "…The next shall be fatal! I believe you to understand what I mean!?" he said warningly, mentioning a certain spot on the blond's chest.

Covering his teeth behind his lips, Naruto still kept the frown and after a moment of silence he forcefully lowered his head, signing Gaara that he understood.

Knitting his eyes, Gaara already knew that it was a forced out lie…, however he let it pass. As long as they shall be together it shouldn't bother him much.

'_Tch…' _Turning his back to the blond, Gaara suddenly halt in his steps as the silent one abruptly whispered something.

"I know what you're thinking Gaara."

Looking over his shoulder, the red-head narrowed his eyes at the blond.

"Can't deny the brotherly instincts. You think that I shall lose it sooner or later, don't you?! …But then…" supporting himself as he spoke, Naruto leaned against the wall, "…what would you do…if you were in my place? Considering my life and my being. What choice would you make?! Would you even make one?"

Turning away from the blond, Gaara closed his eyes, "…I don't know…" he whispered.

Frowning, Naruto pushed away from the wall. "Then tell me this…" said Naruto, stepping closer to the red-head, "Who gives you the _right_ to tell me what is right or wrong…?! Who are _you_ to say that I shall regret my decisions…?! Who are _you_ tell me how to deal with my life…?! Who ar-…"

"I am your brother!" loudly said the red-head, stopping the blond's rising outburst. Turning to face the blond, he nodded, "Yes… I _would_ make a choice, Naruto!" he said abruptly, making Naruto sink into curiosity. "And I would choose to 'kill'. …However, I know that I shall _never_ be able to live it down afterwards… and neither will you. Especially _you_!"

"You callin' me weak?!" growled the blond.

"You _are_ weak if 'death' is the only solution you see, Naruto."

Taking in a shaking breath, Naruto bit his lip. _'I can't…' _shaking his head he then brokenly whispered out, "I can't forgive, Gaara…" turning away Naruto ran a hand through his hair and abruptly froze as he brushed by his pointy ear. "Look at me…" he whispered, tracing a line down his ear and going to his cheek, "I'm a monster," narrowing his brows he pressed the nail tighter to his flesh and cut a vertical line down his cheek that started to heal right after. "…my father… …the elders… _They_ made me this way!"

Swallowing a painful lump, Gaara slowly shook his head, "It's not them Naruto and you know it. We're from another world here."

"What do dimensions change, Gaara?!" Naruto asked silently while dropping his hand limp to his side. "If the chance would have been given…they wouldn't even think before doing exactly the same." Scowling he turned back to the red-head, "And what about now, huh?! Just think what will happen to us now! You and I are not people anymore…nor are we human at all." Shaking his head, Naruto lowered his voice, "They shall _never _accept a creature like this! They judge before they see!" taking a shuddering breath, Naruto then spat out, "And why _should_ I spare such lives?!"

Suddenly Naruto found himself contacted painfully with the cave's wall and Gaara holding him up by his throat.

"What if he _didn't_ know!?" stopping for a moment his struggle against the choking grip, Naruto groan in confusion at his 'brother's' stern words.

"W…wh-at?!"

"What if your father didn't know this will happen?! What if all this was a huge mistake he graves greatly in the afterlife?! …Would you still blame him?"

"Th-that's…bull…," Gritting his teeth, Naruto grabbed Gaara's hand's wrist yet abruptly he stopped fidgeting and silenced himself as did Gaara.

Birds suddenly stopped chirping and took off into the sky; the wind perked up and whistled by the hill's cave; the sudden shake of the earth gave both a flinch when suddenly a shot of fire came from the surrounding fog and hit them both.

"…ngh…" crushing to the ground from the impact, Gaara didn't have time to check on Naruto (who appeared to be 'swallowed' by the thick fog somewhere) 'cause he was abruptly punched square in the face with a fast fist. Colliding his back with a tree that stood behind, he ducked from the next punch and quickly rolled to the side only to jump away from the set of kunais going for him.

Abrupt loud shout suddenly made Gaara froze. _'Naruto…' _clenching his teeth, he mindlessly dodged the thrown weapons and quickly leaped into the fogged road to the suspected direction of his 'brother'.

_

* * *

_

Blocking a fist with his elbow, Naruto brought his other hand up and smacked the offending Uchiha far away from him before squatting down as the next was coming from behind him and nearly stabbed him with a long katana. Outstretched his claws, Naruto wasted no time as he prepared to go for the kill by plugging the man's heart out…but suddenly he gasped as Gaara's words rang into his head. _"…The next shall be fatal…" _clenching his claws quickly into the fist instead, Naruto re-angled his hand and punched the Uchiha hard into the chin before jumping up and with a turning-kick punched him with a foot away.

'_When ever did I plan for it to turn out this way? Damn you Gaara!'_ groaning in displeasure for being forbidden to use any extreme jutsu, Naruto jumping away from the next charging Uchiha and landed a couple of meters away. _'…But then again… who ever said that it couldn't be at least _near_ the brick of death…'_ with that sudden thought in mind a small smirk crept onto his face and he took a few steps backwards. Taking a deep-deep inhale of air, Naruto abruptly opened his mouth wide and screamed out to the whole flock in front of him with all his might…

"HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHhhhhh…"

Startled gasps from the men were voiced as waves of abrupt sickening sounds mentally punched them to the stop and forced themselves into their ears. The Uchihas knitted their eyes before quickly grabbing onto the spinning heads and clenched the teeth at the pain the voice was triggering in them. Their ears jammed and started to bleed from the inside-out; knees buckled and they fell to the ground.

It was the agony of twisted pain. The sounds were unbearable; it was like a feeling of the crying dead.

"S-s-stop IIIiiit!!"

Petite seconds felt like hours before the boy finally stopped the torture and closed his mouth, letting the twitching and paralyzed bodies drop to the ground – still shaking.

Finally arriving, Gaara jumped next to Naruto and the blond grinned at him. "See!? I didn't kill them now did I?!" the blond sniggered and cleared his throat a bit to get his hoarse voice into normal condition.

Scowling at the blond, the red-head's eyes turned to the corners where he saw the next storm of the Uchihas jump from the trees and onto a dry-dead ground they appeared to be in.

Half of the Uchihas carefully kept a good eye on them while the other half helped those on the floor who lay behind.

Spitting a little amount of blood from his mouth, which ripped itself from his throat by the time he unleashed that loud shrilling-scream, Naruto abruptly outstretched his one hand up and pointed onto a certain ebony-haired young-man. "_You_ almost cost me a leg, you prick!" he growled out.

"That was the point," indifferently elaborated the _pony-tailed_. "After that previous stunt of yours you can call us even, _boy_!" the name made Naruto's eyebrow twitch.

"Have to admit though… The child has some impressive power behind that petite form of his, doesn't he?!" the other Uchihas started to slowly slide into an observe-full conversation.

"Indeed. The kid's skill is quite considerate, but can he keep that up for long?"

"Hard to tell. Even though the short-one does look like a girl, he ca-…"

The rest seemed to blur around the blond and the echoes of words only stayed. _'Boy…? Child…? Kid…? Short one!?? LOOKS LIKE _WHAT_???' _clenching his shaking fists, Naruto began to hiss the words out as he prepared to jump the whole Uchiha gang, "You Lousy Sons Of Bi-…" but couldn't get to the end since the red-head smacked his mouth shut with his left-hand and encircled the waist with the other – restraining him.

"Don't taunt them, Naruto!" warningly hissed the red-head, bringing the protesting Naruto securely to his body and all the while staring at the Uchihas' chest in order to avoid the spinning eyes. "The least I need now is their encouragement for you to fight!"

Grumbling something under the red-head's hand, Naruto gave in with a sigh and stayed still, which slightly surprised the red-head. But at the same time it worried him to no end, _'Why are you so obedient?!'_ Everything seemed fine till the feeling of something brushing his leg made Gaara look down and his eyes widened, "…no…"

Suddenly a crack of the earth was heard and before anyone knew it – six huge tails came from behind the Uchihas' backs.

Itachi and Shisui shared a look.

"What a hell's that?" frowned the curious black-haired man before scattering away like flies as the tails dived down with incredible speed and blasted into the spot where the Uchihas previously stood.

"Wh-what _is_ that?!" stuttered now many shocked men, who were yet to learn about the real strength of such a mass of moving chakra.

"Chakra?!" guessed the other half as they charged at the tails which only resulted for them to get either smacked away, deeply burned or stabbed.

"How can it move like that?" throwing the broken katanas and other melted or destroyed weaponry away, the men could now only gap as the huge mass of six tails abruptly divided into nine parts each and stormed after every individual.

"Hihihiii… It's _such_ a shame that I can't see those faces with my own eyes. But who cares?!" the crazy blond's laughter send Gaara tiny chills down his backbone while he stared at him having his fun.

Frowning, Gaara finally turned away and sighed with a snarl, "Fine! Whatever…, as long as you don't kill them."

"That hurts, Gaara. Whenever did I doubt you?" sending the blond a glare, Gaara abruptly blinked as he saw something moving from the side.

"Hn?" curious he turned around before gasping as a sudden brick of wood came out right by his feet and jerked him to stumbled to the side and away from Naruto.

"Oi! What are ya doin'?" growled Naruto and slightly flinched at the feeling of something shoot behind his back, his side, then his front – until a circle was formed around him.

"Wood?" wondered Naruto, finally sensing something akin to a tree surrounding him.

"…" frowning in question himself, the red-head started at about eleven long lumbers of thick wood with implied large spikes on the inner sides.

"Is tha-GHAa!!" unable to finish his sentence, Naruto gasped as beams of wood shot out from every post without a warning and grabbed him by his arms and his neck – choking him.

Cursing their luck, Gaara woke up from his fogged mind and rushed in to help, yet he flinched as his feet got caught in a too familiar shadow, which momentarily started to crawl around his whole body until it reached his neck and put on the pressure.

"…nn-nngha…" choking out the air, Gaara struggled against the shadow till he could at least turn his head and look over his shoulder.

Two men, keeping their distance, were kneeling on the ground. One of them was the perfect replica of elder Shikamaru while the other seemed unknown – had brown hair, wide, black eyes and a strange headband which had a part of it covering both sides of his cheeks.

Turning then to his 'brother', Gaara groaned, _'Now they've done it. Fuck… If I won't get out before Naruto… …'_

Naruto's shoulders were shaking, his breath came in uneven pants and his teeth clenched as an unbearable rage boiled up. Clenching his muscles, Naruto started to move his arms. As the muscles compressed, he could hear the wood slowly cracking.

"Th-that boy! He's strength knows no bounds." growled the sweaty brown haired man, who Gaara guest was the one with the ability to use wood.

"Keep him still, Yamato!" spoke a newly arrived voice of the Namikaze, who finally emerged from the fog with the rest of the chasing group. "Kakashi, Orochimaru! Take your men and get the others out of there, quick! Now that he's at full concentration on himself we won't have to worry about those _tails_ of his."

With a short nod, half of the group went off to retrieve the injured and bounded by the frozen tails Uchihas.

Growling at the restrains, Naruto started putting more pressure on his muscles.

"Sir!" silently warning Minato that he can't hold him much longer, Yamato asked for the next course of action.

Tilting his head to look at the 'brothers', Namikaze seemed to be slightly reluctant before saying, "Do it."

Nodding his head, the brown haired quickly pulled his hands into a different seal.

Gaara's eyes widened as the lower spikes from the posts circling Naruto suddenly shot out and all he could manage to do was force out a yell.

"S-STOP IT!!!" yet the damage was done and the hard metal pierced through Naruto's shins.

"AAAAAAAHHHHhhhhh…" the blond's shrill filled the whole air once his flesh was pierced and the bones were mercilessly broken in the way.

'_Damn him…' _Knitting his eyes shut at the forced pressure that the _shadow_-jutsu was pressing on him, Gaara coughed out blood and looked back at the shaking blond, who was held hanging by his arms and neck, feet brushed limply against the ground. Gaara could feel his rising anger, _'dam it – Dam It – DAM IT!' _

"Huh?" startled, the _shadow-_user's eyes narrowed as a sandy-yellow chakra suddenly blasted around the red-head's form and started to circle in a fast speed.

Panting against the strong hold the Nara had on him (much stronger than what Shikamaru had), Gaara clenched his teeth and forcefully began to part his hands and feet.

"Shikaku! Immobilize him! Now!!" sternly ordered Minato, already seeing that whatever the red-head is up to shall not be to his liking.

"Already on it!" growled Shikaku and pulled a different hand-sign.

A part of the shadow suddenly emerged from the ground in a form of over twenty tendrils and went to pierce Gaara through the flesh.

Growling at the fast-moving jutsu, Gaara clenched his eyes shut before opening them to see a black-sand shot out from the ground and make the sharp tendrils stab it instead.

"Shit!" cursed Shikaku and formed another sign, but he couldn't execute it since that black sand suddenly charged right at him. Ceasing the jutsu, the Nara quickly jumped away.

Freed from the shadow, Gaara regained his footage and quickly brought his right-foot up high above his head.

"Eat this!" whispered the red-head and smashed the foot hard to the ground. The thundering downcast of the foot smashed the ground with such force that the earth's surface cracked over a mile and a half radius in front of him.

Blinking at the cracking huge lines passing them by and small ones from in between their feet, the Konoha ninjas looked back at the red-head.

"Does he think it shall scare us away?!" sniggered amused Suigetsu with some others joining in, mindless of Gaara who in the meantime bent down and grabbed a small rock by his feet.

Looking at the nins, Gaara calmly informed them, "You will find it not so amusing after you realize what you are standing on!"

"Oh?" arching a mocking brow, asked the aqua-haired, "And that would be…?!"

Fingered the object in his hand, Gaara suddenly reached out and throw it in the middle of the cracked area – right between the smirking Suigetsu's legs. As soon as the rock dapped against the ground – the surface beneath broke and the ninjas felt themselves going down as the ground beneath started to go under and disappear into a strange deep hole hidden underneath.

Blinking widely, Minato shakily inhaled and shouted out, "Get a Hell out of here!!"

Jerking at the realization, the shinobi grabbed the injured and soon found themselves racing down the road which crumbled and fell beneath their feet with each step they took.

Finally after half a minute of running from the crumbling ground, the shinobi jumped and fell onto the strong-supported surface while the last of the rocks fell into a deep-deep darkness of the nature's wonder.

Panting, Minato stood up and went to stand over the edge of a now displayed gigantic seemingly never ending 'abyss' (two miles wide; one and a half mile long), which been held at peace up till now.

"You were saying, Suigetsu?" hissed Minato as he turned from the wide hole to glare at the teen, who was still gapping at the huge 'discovery' that nearly 'swallowed' them whole.

"Who would have thought that something like this could be held in the middle of the Fire country!?" whistled the agape Shisui and kicked a small rock in miles long huge hole. The rock could be heard falling down but never reaching the end.

"That's not the issue now. They're getting away," standing next to him said Itachi, staring far forward and catching the movements of the red-head (on the other side of the hole), who freed his brother and disappeared into the woods.

Itachi scowled as he received a middle finger from the blond before he was taken away.

"Mind telling us _who_ exactly we are up against, Namikaze-sama?" clearing the silence, growled the badly bruised Uchihas.

Looking down the huge hole, Minato shook his head, "I don't know." _'This is all too much to take in right now!'_

_

* * *

_

Dropping under a thick tree, Naruto turned on his back and re-caught his breath while panting. "Still want me to let them walk the mortal world?"

Kneeling next to Naruto's feet, Gaara took off his shirt and stuffed Naruto's mouth with it – silencing any screams that might get out – before grabbing hold onto the spikes and without a warning yanking them out from his shins.

Knitting his brows in pain, Naruto groaned when the _gentle_-'brother' yanked the shirt out of his mouth and ripped it into two parts – tying them over the blooded shins. "Man, can't you _at least_ be more gentle you assHOLE!!" Naruto jerked at the last syllable as Gaara finished tying the knot with a bit too strong tug around the wound.

"Weren't you such a thickhead, this wouldn't have happened in the first place. Now hold still you big baby!" growled the seemingly displeased red-head and went to tie the other shin.

"Tsk…" huffing, Naruto dropped back onto his back.

Finishing the final touches, Gaara sighed and looked over his work. Turning then to the blond he reached for his blindfold.

Naruto blinked as his eyes were uncovered and quickly shielded them with his elbow. "It hurts," he whispered, feeling only more darkness and pained pressure while holding his eyes open.

"Just hold still," silently said Gaara and tied the blindfold around Naruto's mouth, "Even though it's nothing compared to your ability, but I shall try and heal your legs…, at least a bit."

Digging his hands in the dirt, Naruto clenched the fabric between his teeth and gave Gaara a meek nod – signaling that he was ready for the painful healing.

"Don't scream," rising the blond's shirt up said the red-head and pierced Naruto's abdomen.

"Mmghh…" muffled by the fabric, Naruto arched, feeling Gaara's chakra flow through his system till it encircled around the broken bones and forced them together – then the real pain began, "…NNNGAAAaaa…"

After a minute or two, Gaara opened his eyes and took out his claws from the panting body. Untying then the ripped shirt from the blooded shins, Gaara looked at the 'fixed' legs. "There," he said in relief, running a finger over the covered wound, "Looks fine now."

Hissing, Naruto took off the blindfold from his mouth and sat up, shivering at the healed bones that tickled slightly.

"That should wear off after some time." Dusting off his pants, Gaara grabbed Naruto's hand and helped him to his lightly wobbling feet. "I hope you know that this tampering only caused us time!?"

"Really?" bringing the blindfold up Naruto was about to tie it in its place but it was suddenly ripped from his fingers by a flying kunai, which nailed it to the tree they stood by.

Staring at the tree, the two then looked to the other side where the kunai came from.

"Really!" whispered Gaara, now staring at the Namikaze and rest of Konoha ninjas around them…_'Again?!'_

Averting their eyes on the blond, the ninjas stopped in their breath upon the sight of the boy's orbs. Some gasped in shock whiles the other flinched and quickly averted their eyes on the boy's other body parts.

'_My God…it's obnoxious!'_

Hearing the shocked reactions, Naruto couldn't help but grin, "What's the matter?! Are ya afraid of me?" he sniggered, mindlessly feeling a small tear slide down his eyes from the pain he felt while holding them open.

"What kind of a monster are you?" whispered one of the disgusted Uchihas at the sight of the boy's eyes.

Gaara blinked his eyes wide at the fool who dared say it.

Blinking at the comment himself, Naruto felt himself slight flinch before his mouth curled into a small smirk which slowly grew. "Hi… …h-hi-hi-hi-hi… ha-ha-ha-ha-ha… BWAAahahahahahahaaaaa…" the blond lost it as his body started to shake with abrupt laughter that held nothing but coldness and emptiness. Tears fell from his both eyes, and Gaara didn't know anymore – were they because of the pressure or the inner pain at the words.

Whipping his eyes and cheeks from the tickling tears, Naruto opened his eyes once more and calmly placed his hands together, "Here… I'll let you decide," he grinned and abruptly opened his mouth. _'Wind-style: bleeding force!'_

Before one could inhale, a small mass of wind shot out from his mouth and right after that it exploded – taking everyone in it. The huge blast wiped out the whole forest in two miles diameter.

_

* * *

_

Flinching, Minato felt himself slowly coming back from the darkness. Blinking sky-blue eyes open he quickly closed them and hissed at the pain in his whole body. "What happened?" he wondered, struggling to sit up while holding onto his spinning head till the blurry vision could make out a picture.

Hearing other hissing sounds behind him, Minato turned around and looked at his men – some were slowly standing up while the majority appeared to be barely conscious.

Then he remembered… Clenching the dirt, furious, Minato stood up and looked through the smoke full area – searching his target. They were nowhere to be seen. Snarling, he turned to his men and looked at the many glaring faces. "Scatter!" he then gave his order.

Nodding everyone jumped into different directions in search for the two certain brats.

Choosing a road himself, he was about to jump too but before that something caught his eye.

'_The boy's blindfold…'_ walking over to the lying piece of fabric on the ground, Minato carefully picked it up. Taking it in both hands he suddenly gasped as a flash hit him…

"…_father…"_ a voice of a cheerful child's whisper suddenly penetrated into his ears.

"What?" spooning quickly around himself – looking frantically around for that laughing child, Minato suddenly jerked at the sudden jolted of pain and quickly grabbed onto his head that felt as if just being smashed through the wall, "…AAaah…mmnngh…" dropping to his knees, he clenched his hair, "Wh-what is th-this?!"

"_Dad-dad!! Look-look!! Look what I found!" _Hissing at another jolt of pain stabbing him into the chest, Minato dropped onto his back and grit his teeth. "Wh…what's happ…enin'?"

"…_I love you…" _

"AAHh!" Suddenly everything was gone and his glassed eyes shot wide open.

… …Everything felt so quiet…. Taking fast silent inhales Minato stared at the clouded sky, _'This feeling… …it is so warm…so peaceful…'_ Turning his face tiredly to the side, he blinked at the red-blindfold lying dropped by his head.

"Who are you?" _'…Naruto…'_

_

* * *

_

"There!" standing atop of a high cliff, Shisui pointed down a long river running bellow.

"Inform the others," without another word, Itachi disappeared.

_

* * *

_

Running down the river flowing between high cliffs, Gaara frowned as he caught little movements above them and then warily averted his eyes onto his emotionless and very quiet friend._ 'As long as I'm near I can keep him in line,' _he calmed himself that he will be able to suppress the blond if the 'right faces' will happen to show up.

"I had enough of this!" Naruto's sudden growl startled the red-head and before he could react the blond slid to stop and quickly formed three seal signs, right after that he slammed his palm atop the water's surface and it momentarily began to freeze close.

Suddenly three figures jumped out of the water before it froze close atop of them, and landed a couple of meters away.

"Impressive taste of sense you have there!" smirked the aqua haired teen with a large sward in his arm.

"Like if that would help him for long, Suigetsu!" mumbled a well familiar black-haired teen and suddenly jumped into the air with the other two following.

Clenching his katana's handle he reached out and send a lightning shot at the two 'brothers'.

Both reflexively jumped away from the strong hit that broke the ice into tiny pieces and spread the shocking light through the water.

Balancing himself onto the cliff's wall, Naruto quickly averted his face from getting wounded by the fly kunai which passed him right by his cheek, and pushed away from the wall; kicking from the water's surface he jumped onto the opposite wall and stared running askew above it to reach the top…, however that only resulted for him to come face to face with an ebony-haired Anbu who met him on his down run from the tall cliff.

"Fuck," cursed Naruto and quickly caught the aimed fist into his hand while the other clenched the Uchiha's opposite one.

"Irony of the fate… It appears that it just can't keep us apart for long! Don't you think so too, _Naruto_?" spitting the last words out by Naruto's ear, Itachi suddenly kicked him into the abdomen, sending the teen down.

Seeing that as a chance, electricity ran through Sasuke's blade and he shot the lightning into the water, intending to run over thousand of volts through Naruto's entire body as soon as he shall make contact with the surface.

Baring his teeth at such an attempt, Naruto outstretched his right-arm and it shot out a red-chakra-like-rope from his palm; the chakra quickly entwined itself around one of the cliff's rocks by the edge and pulled him up and away from the dangerous water.

Jumping onto the cliff, Naruto quickly moved aside as Shisui went pass him…or rather _flew_ – since a certain red-head wasn't too happy with him.

Blinking the pain in his blind eyes away, Naruto gasped as a sudden presence jumped behind him while he was distracted and swung a massive blade at him.

"You're mine!" grinned Suigetsu, but those hopes got crushed by the red-head who suddenly jumped onto his gigantic sward – bringing it down – and punched him square into the face, sending the _aqua-haired_ down the cliff.

Pushing Gaara quickly away, Naruto caught a huge fist going for him and brace himself against the ground as it came quite hard to hold still against the tall orange-haired man.

Grabbing the giant sward on the ground, Gaara swung the blunt side of it and slammed the tall man's knees' joints – kicking him off balance.

'_That sure is a leviathan…' _thought Naruto and jumped away from the blast of fire aimed at him.

Appearing right into the blond's path, Itachi made a sign for dragon and shot a huge blast at him.

"Fuck my luck!" turning around, Naruto groaned as Shisui jumped in his way and formed the same seal as Itachi – shooting it momentarily after.

Kakashi blocked his left side while Sasuke came from the right – and both lightened the whole 'chaos' with the lightning jutsu…

**BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!**

"NARUTO!!" shocked, Gaara stared wide-eyed at the exploded field of still burning fire and spread out smoke…, somewhere there his 'brother' had to be – whether badly burned or at worse unconscious.

"Did we get him?" wondered Kakashi and lightly waved his hand, making the smoke wear thin and reveal a huge black spot in between them done by the fire and lightning jutsus, but no body. However, what made the scenery even more deadly thick with unimaginable hatred towards the sly blond were two words written in glittering blood:

"_FUCK YOU"_

Gaara's eyes widened before narrowing into slits, "That little bastard. When did he…?" Looking quickly around the area, Gaara's eyes hardened even more since the blond was indeed nowhere to be seen… _'Damn you! Where are you, you little clone-brat?' _

_

* * *

_

Walking down the forest, Naruto wondered if Gaara had already found out that the fake clone replaced him by the time he used the wind-blast or not?!

'_Doesn't matter…' _he said to himself and closed his tired crystal eyes, welcoming the day's cool breeze brushing his hair and giving the promise of the coming storm that shall wash away his sins… He just wanted silence.

A crack of a stick breaking abruptly jerked Naruto's eyes back open, although he couldn't see anything it just came out of the habit, and he looked upwards – facing his own 'image'.

A tall, masculine silhouette of the Namikaze slowly halt in his calm steps and now stood three meters in front of the young teen.

Silence overwhelmed the air, only did the livid leafs on trees and distant growls of the lightning whisper the words in their place.

"…_why is it so dark…"_

"…_please don' go…"_

"…_I will come back… I promise you…"_

'_I don't understand!?' _Closing his eyes, the blond haired man forced the abstruse whispers away, and opened them again to glare coldly at the most dangerous opponent he had ever came to encounter in all his years.

Same hatred came directed from the younger of the two, but the boy didn't attack, which made Minato wonder, _'Why is he still holding back?'_

Last words from the red-head held Naruto onto a chain – restraining him from one aching will.

Clenching his eyes close, Naruto took a shaking inhale and forcefully hissed the words out he would later laugh at, "Get out of the way!" _'While you still can…'_

Arching a brow, Minato could tell that the child was trying to restrain himself, but from what?! Standing his ground, Minato wondered, _'Is he afraid of something?' _

The man's ignorance at his warning made Naruto inwardly glad and he clenched his fingers, _'Suit yourself…' _Then faster than a lightning he appeared in Minato's face; before a gasp could rasp out, the elder was punched with wild force into the face.

"…NGha…" crushing against the tree that shattered into pieces at the compact, Minato fell to the ground. _'Dear Lord… What is he?!' _struggling to his feet, Minato blinked and quickly looked up at the blond, who yet again stood mere inches from him.

Twisting onto one leg, Naruto used the other one to kick Minato hard into the chest, making the man tumbled away from him again.

'_God that feels so good…'_ exhaled the pleased _fox_ and grabbed a familiar three-edged-kunai he stole from the Namikaze while punching him. And wasting little time, he charged.

"That is enough!" hissed Minato and charged as well, taking out his katana…

As both brushed pass each other the metals clung and sparkled. Turning quickly around while they're still close, Minato managed to imply a wound on the boy's back, but blinked with a gasp as he saw it momentarily begin to heal. _'Now that's just great.'_ Ducking from the teen's punch, Minato jumped onto a tree, but cursed as the boy suddenly appeared behind him.

'_He's too fast.'_

Reaching out Naruto slammed the kunai down, but gave a loud growl as his 'father' dodged it and made him stab a branch of wood instead.

Seeing an opening, Minato twisted onto one leg and slammed his foot into Naruto's cheek, sending the teen crushing down on the ground.

Groaning, the young-blond rolled back to his feet and quickly blocked the next stab Minato was intending to execute on his throat.

Using the close range to his advantage, Naruto stealthily grabbed hold of many weapons in Minato's tool-bag before pushing the man away by slamming him hard into the stomach with his leg.

Going throughout the stolen objects in a second's time, Naruto grabbed the searched tool and threw it at Minato.

Hissing and rubbing his head, which slammed against the tree he was now leaning against, Minato flinched as he felt a kunai lightly brush pass his cheek and abruptly stab itself into the tree right by his head. Blue eyes widened as they caught sight of a tag hanging on the kunai's end before it blazed up.

"Bloody Hell!" cursed Minato and the tag exploded.

**BOOOOM!!**

Pleased, Naruto fixed two kunais by his hip and dropped the useless ones to the ground while he waited for the smoke to clear out and reveal his work. Once it cleared, Naruto sniffed the air but suddenly gasped as he did not sense any blood. _'N-no…'_

"Looking for me?" asked a tall figure appearing behind the teen.

Startled, Naruto quickly turned around and made a sound between a groan and a yelp as a heavy fist came slamming into his face.

As soon as Minato's hand hit the boy, a strange pang suddenly grabbed hold onto his chest, but he ignored it and charged forward.

Growling and roaring at the strong punch, Naruto didn't bother to fix his hurting jaw as he grabbed the sharp kunai back in his hand and charged as well…

…But before they ran into each other, a puff of smoke brought presence in between them…

"Well-well-well now… looks like I came here just in time!" As the smoke cleared, a man with long white hair, dressed in red-grey-white attire appeared. Standing all proud and tall, he took his stance and spread his hands wide with a huge grin on his mouth, "When it comes to dealing with strange other worldly freaks and monsters…no-one's better than a strange hermit ninja. Now stand aside while I blind this girl over here with my manly handsomeness. Let me just hear you say – _'Thank goodness that Jiraiya is here!!'_"

Silence spread out like some bad disease. Minato had a twitch in the eye… Naruto had a twitch in the eye… and the world stopped moving.

Looking up in question, Jiraiya sweat-drop at the two retarded blonds, "Apparently people don't appreciate classic nowadays." he gave a long sigh before he was grabbed by his collar and brought face to face with one scary looking Minato.

"Where in bloody Hells were you?" hissed the blond-man.

"Tying up some loose ends?!" sweating grinned Jiraiya and quickly coughed, trying to change the subject. "Anyways, I see that the girl over there has already given you a fine mark on your face. Is it really that hard to ask her on a date?"

Scratching his neck that was pulsing with a vein, Minato sighed out in annoyance, "It's a boy, sensei."

"Really?!" quite surprised, Jiraiya looked Naruto from head to foot and skeptically turned to Minato, "You sure?!" Surely the old-man knew that it was a boy, he just couldn't miss a chance to toy with his favorite student.

"YES!! I am sure you goat!!" roared the tired Namikaze. _'God, why do my life suck so much?!'_

"Sorry-sorry!" grinned pleased Jiraiya and finally turned to the twitching 'girl'. "Alright my pretty little dumpling… now why don't you drop that pointy looking thing in your hands so we can have some _real_ fun!?"

"Perverted old geezer! No matter where you are, you never change," rubbing his forehead, Naruto gave a lonesome sigh.

"Huh?! What was that my cherry-blossom?!"

"Sensei…" hissed irritated Minato. _'The fool doesn't even know what he's getting himself into.'_

Groaning low in his throat, Naruto scratch his neck. _'Well… the perve did teach me something! …So might as well spare him!'_ inwardly he thought and suddenly grinned.

'_Right…screw this!'_ outstretching his hand to the side, he let the weird-shaped kunai drop and stab itself into the ground.

Blinking at that, Jiraiya gave a victory look, "There, you see Minato… It's all about charm!"

"Yes… it is," agreed Naruto and smirking he quickly marched through two-sets of hand-signs.

**Puff!! **

"GHAAAA!!" Minato's eyes bulged out and his jaw rolled to the very bottom of the ground, while Jiraiya traveled all the way to the bloody heaven.

Once the smoke cleared, tens of sexy-naked-women sprawled all over the place. Lean, tan, curvy bodies glittered with sweat; long strands of loose hair shone with gold and eyes as blue as the sky sparkled with lust.

"OOOOOOH… THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT!!" gapped the white-haired _hermit_, catching his eyes before they fell out.

As the girls danced around, one suddenly grabbed hold onto Jiraiya's neck and leaned in to his ear, moaning, "Ji-rai-yaaahhhh…" and that was it… – the ultimate nose-bleed for the _toad_ and Jiraiya fell from all fours to the ground, twitching with happiness.

Covering his eyes in embarrassment, Minato clapped his nose close and did his best for safe keeping while peaking wide-eyed between his fingers at the pretty girls, jumping around him in circle.

Suddenly there was another 'puff' and the girls were gone… and so was the boy.

Blinking, Minato harshly shook his 'slightly' corrupted head and glanced around only to see the lying, smiling pervert happily on the ground with bleeding nose and rolling eyes of joy.

"Get up, fool!" twitching in annoyed anger, Minato roared and kicked Jiraiya in the ribs. "He's getting away!"

_

* * *

_

"There you are!" grabbing the three-edged-kunai fixed by his hip, Minato poured some of his chakra in it and threw it at the direction he could sense the boy; the kunai suddenly disappeared from the sight and transported itself into a completely different location.

Naruto gasped as he was suddenly stabbed into the arm by a kunai that suddenly appeared in his way from thin air. "Fuck," jumping quickly backwards, he dodged a set of shurikens that abruptly came from above him and went stabbing the ground by his feet.

Right after them Jiraiya jumped in, "Alright you little squirt – that was a very good move back there – but such tricks will not work twice on me…for I – Jiraiya the Toad-Sage fall victim to no women's charm…where beauties drop for me – like blossoms in a storm-…"

"So was that what happened back there… only the other way around…" interrupting muttered Minato, coming to stand by the _hermit_.

Glaring at his student before finally ignoring him, Jiraiya turned back to the girly-like-boy and grinned, "You apparently don't know who you got yourself to deal with now, little-_girl_!?"

As soon as he said that sentence, he kneeled down and slammed his both palms onto the ground. _"Ninja art – toad mouth trap"_

Suddenly the whole area was transformed into the esophagus of a toad – enveloping them all in it.

"Welcome my friend, to the belly of the beast!" proudly voiced the _hermit_.

"Tch," almost slipping onto the sleek organ, Naruto glared at the man he could almost see grinning.

"You might want to watch where you step, if you don't wish to be swallowed whole. He is quite a sensitive being at that point."

"And _I _do not care!" growled angry blond, and before they could even process what was happening, there was a huge light beams from the teen's right-hand and he slammed it into the ground.

**BOOOOOOOOOOM!!**

"NHGAA…" crashing painfully onto the ground from an unknown force, Jiraiya and Minato stared shocked at the falling parts from the summoned toad's digestive system – it was ripped to million pieces.

"What happen? What did he do?" Minato voiced unexplainable questions.

"It can't be… No-one's ever escaped this jutsu. It's impossible!" Fury, confusion, anger and amazement rushed through Jiraiya's head like storm.

Just then Naruto landed in the bloodied area.

'_That kid…' _gritting their teeth, the two elders pulled themselves to their feet and glared at the child who gladly glared back, making them inwardly flinch at those dead eyes.

"Well, Minato…, apparently there is no other way around. We'll just have to force him to it then," dead serious spoke Jiraiya.

"Hn," a bit unsure about the elder's plan, Minato weakly nodded, not taking his eyes from the teen.

In union, both men rose their right-hands up and gathered chakra into the palms. Visibly yet very quickly, _Rasengan _was formed.

As the jutsu strengthened, the wind perked up around them.

Naruto gave no approving sign or flinch at the powerful jutsu, instead his hand slowly crept behind his back and silently started to prepare a jutsu of his own.

Wasting no time, both men charged.

Reflexes twitched and Naruto also moved, but instead of moving away he surprised them by dashing forward.

'_Reckless!' _smirked Jiraiya as he and his student came closer and closer… until…

"WHAT A HELL!?" the shocked _junior_-Hokage managed to yell when the boy brought out his hidden hand and…

…the collision accrued…

_

* * *

_

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM…!!**

A large explosion went off about two miles away…

Sweaty and panting ninjas stopped in their attacks and blinked widely at an unimaginable force that could be seen taking place in the far forest…

Blue mixed with red chakra-ball towered a part of itself above the high trees' tops.

'_What a Hell are you doing, Naruto!' _glaring in the direction of the massive power, Gaara silently cursed his best-friend and suddenly disappeared from in between dumbfounded Konoha's shinobi.

_

* * *

_

Jiraiya and Minato were beyond shock now… They dashed towards the boy with full power of _Rasengan _only to be blocked by the same type of technique.

They braced themselves as three identical jutsus collided.

A screech of air cutting against air filled their ears, it was almost impossible to keep a tight grip and control of the jutsu while being forced to listen to that sickening sound.

Jiraiya and Minato were forced to secure the hold against the force they got themselves into – digging their feet deeper into the earth.

The boy stood his ground, although still with a slight difficulty as well, holding onto the powerful jutsu rivaling it against both men's power.

Loosened shafts of chakra escaped between the three _Rasengans_ and started to tear their hands and shirts apart. A massive heat soon encircled around their bodies and started to burn their hands behind the force.

'_Enough!'_ unable to hold it no longer, Naruto fisted the powerful jutsu with his hand – thus breaking its power along with the two dumbstruck men's power.

**BOOOOOOOOM!! **Another explosion went off and all three of them were roughly forced apart…

Having enough experience with intact jutsus like these, Naruto did a couple of flip-ups in the air to balance a safe landing to his feet. As he squatted down, he heard two heavy bodies fall down.

Minato and his sensei both got the painful 'catch' by the ground; however the tumbling-fall turned out graceful at the last moment.

Now all three of them were in rather huge distance, kneeling.

Keeping his head lightly bowed, Naruto slowly panted while carefully listening to them and his surroundings. So it came to him as no surprise when suddenly the red-head appeared next to his right. Both shared no words as Gaara stared at two men on the ground staring back with anger, shock and hidden awe.

Not four seconds later, the rest of the Konoha's ninjas joined in, coming from all directions. Most appeared by their leader's side while the rest surrounded the whole bunch around the area. Many of them were all badly beaten and barely conscious, but still standing and ready to fight if it's the last thing they are to do.

Four Anbu's appeared a bit closer, but still minding the distance, behind the boys and stayed there. They dared not move yet, because the red-head's sand was slowly 'dancing' around him and the blond.

Silence…

Nothing except the breezing wind and the chirping sound of the birds was there to be heard…, which seemed very ironic in this situation.

Standing slowly up, Minato lightly panted while keeping his unblinking eyes widely on the equally panting Naruto, who mimicked his movements and also stood up.

Gaara looked at Minato, then skipped a quick glimpse at Naruto and couldn't help but be amazed at the similarities they shared. Without the blindfold it was all so obvious now…

A sudden gasp from Jiraiya broke the red-head's thoughts and made him quickly turn to the white-haired, and his eyes widened as he caught the man looking at them the same way that he did.

"…no way…" whispered shock looking Jiraiya, staring from Naruto to Minato to Naruto and so on, "…it…t can't be!" Only when he did a check for the boy's chakra did his lungs caught too much air in them… The chakra was a bit dim, but it was completely different from the one he checked on Naruto when they firstly met. This one was… _'I…it's him!'_

'_Shit…he knows!' _cursed Gaara and quickly outstretched his arms.

Dumbfounded, Jiraiya woke up when a mountain of sand slammed into him and brought him down. Right after that – waves of sand arouse from the ground and spread around the nins, who reflexively scattered away.

"We're going! Now!" yanking Naruto by the hand, Gaara rushed them pass the freed road and away from the area.

"Like if that will get you any far," growled the ninjas and escaping the uncontrollable sand dashed after the two.

Coming to help the white-haired man up, Orochimaru asked in a hissing-voice, "What's wrong with you?! You simply froze there."

Still in a shocked state, Jiraiya quickly looked up at the other Sannin and out of the blue he uttered out, "We found him!"

Blinking, Orochimaru arched a brow. "Who?"

"…Naruto… Naruto Namikaze…"

The snake's eyes slowly grew wide with disbelieve.

_

* * *

_

'_We're out of options. There's no way to lose them as long as we're together… We need to split up,' _that thought made Gaara scowl. _'And that's what I'm afraid of the most,' _he inwardly sighed – frightened with the idea of leaving a practically loose _killer _all on his own…

'_The Hell…' _groaning, Gaara forced himself to stop, which caused Naruto to slide to stop as well.

"Go to the Fire's border! I shall meet you there after I'm done here," ordered the red-head and turned back to the direction they were running from.

Furrowing his brows, Naruto said nothing as he only turned around and prepared to go. However before the first step met the earth's surface, a strong hand grabbed his upper-arm and he turned to meet his glaring 'brother's' face.

"Control yourself!" the red-head warned with dead seriousness through his teeth.

Narrowing his eyebrows deeper, Naruto harshly wriggled his arm away from the strong grip and wordlessly jumped away.

'_Surely he shall meet some of the nins on the way… I'll just have to make sure to keep the _right-ones_ away from him,' _Watching him go, Gaara closed his eyes and inhaled deeply, praying to himself, _'When will it end?!' _he was so tired…he just wanted peace.

Kneeling then onto the ground, Gaara placed his both palms above the sandy-ground and mumbled a few silent whispers. The earth suddenly started to shake and soon loud growls filled the air, overpowering the sky-high lightning's loud blasts.

"You have got to be kidding me," moaned the tired shinobi.

After catching up with the red-head they were met with the sight of huge sand-creatures suddenly appearing from the earth next to the kneeling teen. Their roars fill the air; there were about nine of them. They all resembled the One-Tailed demon – Ichibi; the only difference though was that they were about one fourth shorter and more muscular looking compared to the real demon.

Gaara looked through the glaring group of ninjas and suddenly got struck by a major realization, which made him curse every living existence on this planet. _'Where's the Namikaze?!'_

_

* * *

_

Stopping to catch a breath, Naruto curiously turned his ears to the left and frowning walked over the sounds of water running.

Slowly blinking the aching eyes from the salty liquid that ran down his cheeks away, he soon found himself standing by a loud cascading waterfall filling a wide river below.

"This place…" he spoke in bare whisper to everyone and none, "…This accursed place!"

'_The Valley of the End…'_

"…_why are we fighting?"_

"_Weren't we friends?!"_

Clenching his hair, Naruto knit his eyes shut as memories of the past began to burn his mind.

"_Why couldn't I…"_

"…_you were weak…"_

"S… stop…" begging silently he quickly grabbed hold onto his right-chest as it felt like just being stabbed from the inside. "…no…no more!!"

'…_it is over…vengeance shall be ours…' _a voice that always haunted him suddenly appeared and began to sneer in his head.

"Leave me alone!" growled Naruto and clenched his hair even tighter.

"_Naruto…"_

Opening his eyes, Naruto tiredly looked up into the nothingness and softly whispered to the familiar voice calling him. "Father?!"

Lost inside his own world, he didn't sense a kunai flying towards him till it stabbed him into the left-shoulder.

"Argh…" gasping at the sudden pain, he accidentally slipped onto the slippery-rock of the First-Hokage's statue and fell, hitting the water by the loud waterfall and knocking out every sound going around him.

Swimming back to the surface, Naruto balanced himself above the river onto his knees and grabbed the kunai – yanking it out of his bleeding shoulder. As soon as that was done, he was hit to the face with a force that sent him to fall back.

"Shit!" diving under the water, Naruto tried to swim away further to gain distance…, but was quickly grabbed by his right-leg's ankle and yanked out of his vain attempt.

"Where do you think you're going?!" hissed a well known voice of Minato, audibly very pissed and angry, "I'm just getting started." with a low growl he pulled Naruto by his leg and out of the water only to swing him around and crush the boy right into the wall nearby the waterfall.

Gritting his teeth at the compact, Naruto heard some of the inner bones breaking… Having no time to digest the situation completely, Naruto felt himself being grabbed by his neck and yanked out of that same wall only to be hit hard into the face again…

…Ready to do the same with the other hand this time to the teen's nose, Minato narrowed his brows and brought his left-hand down for the painful kick, but connected with the wall instead…

…Dodging the fist, Naruto ducked down and lightly flinched when he heard the wall shatter to pieces. Glaring at the 'father's' attempt to break his skull, he quickly brought his one leg up and kicking him away… but had to quickly jump up afterwards, right before a sharp kunai nailed itself to the place he previously stood.

"Damn brat!" Pushing himself up against the handle of the stabbed blade, Minato jumped after him. Quickly grabbing the teen's ankle, he twirled him around before throwing him hard back into the water.

"OOofff…" slammed against the hard surface, Naruto grabbed hold onto the water, to prevent himself from sinking in, and tried to stand up.

'…_avenge your pain… your suffering… yourself… kill him!!'_

Furrowing his brows at the voices, Naruto groaned as his hand was suddenly grabbed and twisted behind his back.

Flinching at the pain, Naruto elbowed Minato hard into the stomach. Succeeding in getting freed, he turned around and went to punch the man in the face…but Minato quickly ducked and stabbed his outstretched hand with a kunai in return; with no regrets he then turned the blade to the side – ripping Naruto's muscle in process.

"AAARgh…" chocking at his own saliva, Naruto tried to backhand him with his safe hand, but that only resulted him for it being caught and maneuvered behind his back.

Placing his foot onto Naruto's backbone, Minato kept a strong hold on the twisted arm and started to tug it backwards; making the teen think that it shall break any moment if he shall not keep still.

"You've become too predictable Naruto," said glaring Minato and pulled more silent whimpers from the teen by tugging the twisted arm.

"Let…me…go…" warningly Naruto hissed, his voice shaking.

Grabbing Naruto by his long braid, he yanked his head backwards, "What is the point in demanding if you already know that it will only result you to the opposite?"

Hissing, Naruto clenched his teeth together. "Then predict this!" suddenly a lock of red tress hardened itself and pierced through Minato's hand, making him jerk the hand away from the braid.

Turning little to the side, Naruto kicked Minato right into the shin with his foot – cracking it in process.

"AAAAH!" screaming at jolt of pain, Minato's slipped his hold from the blond, who turned to him fully and gave a wild punch right into the nose, sending Minato tumbling away.

Panting while glaring at the direction he knew Minato was, Naruto growled out, "I warned you!" his voice turned deep and chilling.

Whipping his mouth clean from blood mixed with saliva, Minato looked up only to see a mass of red-chakra explode from the petite form and engulf everything around.

_

* * *

_

"God d-dam it! Wh-why is he doing this?!" furious panted Jiraiya, watching as the crumbling sand sank back into the ground; he together with Orochimaru, Itachi and Kakashi somehow managed to defeat two of the giants that blocked their way to the red-head, who sat cross-legged on one of the beasts' heads and concentrated on controlling the others.

"This is all pointless! Orochimaru, distract them! I must get to him!" determined, Jiraiya planed on getting to the red-head while others could take care of the dirty work by dealing with the beasts.

"No problem… Should I brush their teeth while I'm at it?!" sarcastically hissed the irritated Sannin.

…Just then a massive wave of chakra exploded about three miles from them, sending a wave of after explosion that forced them to brace their footage against the earth.

"What was that?!"

Gaara's eyes quickly opened wide, his expression being anything but positive. _'…No…'_ inwardly his voice broke with fear as he momentarily realized who that chakra belonged to.

_

* * *

_

Darting his eyes from left to right, Minato stared as the red-chakra spread in a wide ring around them both – cutting into the cliffs and making the water boil under it.

'_Is it some kind of a barrier?'_ he wondered to himself.

"Are ya scared?" abruptly asked a hollow voice of the smirking blond teen.

Minato flinched and grabbed his head as a whisper like from before suddenly hit him hard…

"_Daddy…where are ya? I'm scared…so scared…" _the voice of child's sobs dimmed in Minato's mind.

"Do you want it? Do you want to know what real pain feels like?" arching a mocking brow, asked Naruto.

"_It hurts… father it hurts so much…"_

"Stop it!" clenching his eyes close Minato thought he was going to rip his hair out as the pressure became more forceful.

Furrowing his brows Naruto snarled, "Do you feel them now, huh?! Is it painful?! Do memories of the past hurt that much?" he asked, wishing for the answer to always be 'yes'.

Hearing that, Minato gasped and looked up at the teen. "…me-…memories…?!" he asked, not sure of what does Naruto mean.

Scowling, Naruto clenched his fists, "Pitiful wretch!" he spat and suddenly he stood in front of Minato.

Blinking at the speed (all that he could manage to do), Minato suddenly found himself contacted with the cliff's wall, huge upper parts of it crumbled and fell into the river.

Struggling away and literally out of the wall, Minato flinched as he tried to cup his burning left-cheek that now held three deep, long scars with gushing blood which the blond implied after shoving him almost through the wall.

"What's wrong!? Is it that hard to remember?" shouted Naruto…, he could hear it all – everything that Minato felt and heard in his head…and that made him angry.

"…_father…" _

Flinching again, Minato hissed and clawed at his burning head. "What are you doing to me?!"

"I ain't doing nothing!" Minato gasped as his neck was grabbed by the teen's hand, who abruptly appeared in front of him, and the next thing he felt was a coldness infilling him from the inside as the boy ruthlessly shoved his other hand into his chest – grabbing a pressured grasp onto the beating heart that now laid its whole fate into the palm's of a killer.

"…nn…ngh…Ghah…" coughing out blood, Minato's whole frame shook.

Smirking, Naruto tilted his head, letting the salty liquid from his eyes slide freely down his cheek, "Do you feel now? …do you feel the pain? …the suffering? Huh? Answer me!!" he angrily roared the last part out since no answer came and clenched the pulsing muscle under his grasp.

"AAgh…" Forcing himself to look up eyelevel with the glaring blond, Minato couldn't hold back a startled gasp at what he saw…

'…_it…it's…me! … …but younger…' _He could finally see the boy clearly, without the fold shielding him away. His features – they were so similar to his own… And those eyes – those accursed eyes…

Staring at the boy's blue iris shinning between the dirty-blooded sclera, Minato couldn't hold himself off – he brought his right-arm up and gently touched Naruto's cheek.

Naruto's eyes widened as he felt a tender hand gently set on his cheek and lightly caress it. Such warmth from a mere touch he had never once experienced from anyone, even Gaara.

"Who are you?" gently whispered Minato, the best he could between his coughs and pain.

Blinking his wet eyes wide, Naruto's brows suddenly furrowed in rage and he ripped his hand away from Minato's chest only to punch him hard into the face. "Don't mess with me!" he growled, sending Minato back into the wall.

Grabbing then the barely conscious 'father' back out of the wall by the collar, Naruto shakily grinned at him, "Ya want to know what just made this picture even more disastrous?!" he asked, bringing Minato's face closer to his own.

Shaking at the boy's mad tone, Minato stare wide-eyed at those dreadful orbs that he knew looked similar to those which he had seen many years before, but couldn't remember.

"You!! HAAA-hahahahahahahaaaa!!" the blond let out a roar of insane laughter and before Minato knew it – he was punched to his chin with brute force that sent him flying high above.

Appearing behind Minato's back, Naruto grinned and quickly grabbed the elder's kunai from his tool bag and sliced a long, deep wound on the back. "Hi-hi-hi-hi-hiii…" sniggering, Naruto punched Minato's wounded back with his foot, sending the man falling back into the river.

"…mngh…" holding onto his opened chest, Minato forced all his willpower to crawl out of the water and use a one-armed hand-sign to create a shield. The water around him quickly rose up and transformed itself into a gigantic dragon.

Frowning at the rivaled level of the jutsu he could feel, Naruto formed quick signs and blocked the attack from the charging dragon with one of his own.

"F-fuck…" cursed Minato and dropped to his hands, coughed out more of his own blood. He felt his strength slowly leaving him with each inhale of the air… There was nothing more he could get himself to do with such a serious wound in place.

Landing onto the wet-surface, Naruto lightly chuckled and cracked his neck before slowly bringing his right hand up, feeling the powerful chakra emerge from his shoulder and crawl around his whole arm till reaching his palm. "Don't worry…" he said, a mischievous smirk finding its way upon his mouth, "…_this_ won't hurt a bit!"

A light red beam shone from Naruto's palm before the _demon-line_ was shot out and charged immensely fast at his 'father'.

Minato's eyes went wide as the mass finally reached him…

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!** The compact formed a blast of forceful wind that arouse waves of water, and smashed against the cliffs – destroying them and the statues of the two founders of the Leaf village…; the whole lane went under a force that destroyed everything in it…

A lightning struck high above the sky, giving its compliments to the still falling rocks of the demolished cliffs and uneven water splashing against them. Soon the smoke on the wide lane disappeared and revealed a lonely figure standing…

Breathing deeply in and out, Naruto lowered his hand and let loose a small laugh of satisfaction before breathing in the air of the dead, but as soon as he did that his grin fell and his eyes slightly widened at that what he truly sensed apart from that what he wanted…

…A certain red-head was found standing in front of wide-eyed Minato with his own outstretched arm against Naruto, which held the twisting color of sandy-yellow chakra around it.

Clenching his shaking fingers into palms, Naruto grit his teeth at his 'brother', who just blocked his shot at Minato, and yelled, "YOU IDIOT! GET OUT OF THE WAY!"

"That is enough, brother!" calmly said the red-head, trying to get Naruto to his senses before the shinobi will get pass his beasts and arrive here.

Growling, Naruto clenched the kunai he still held, and it began to slowly bend from the pressure. "I'LL KNOW MYSELF WHEN IT IS ENOUGH!" yelled the blond and threw the bent kunai at his 'brother'.

Dodging the spinning object with ease, Gaara then only managed to focus his vision as Naruto was already in front of him and punched him into the stomach.

Minato gasped as he watched the red-head being punched with wild force, much harder than he'd seen Naruto do till now.

Meeting the still standing part of the cliff's wall with his back, Gaara chocked out a gush of blood and fell into the water. _'Damn it… he's gone insane. I have to get him away from that man!' _inwardly thought Gaara and swam to the surface all the way cursing Naruto for his inhuman strength.

"Do _not_ interfere, brother." A strange mix of threat, warning, sorrow and worry was filling Naruto's voice as he spoke to his best-friend, who was by now stabilizing himself above the water on his shaking knees and clenching his burning stomach.

"N-Naruto… Enough! Don't do this!" Gaara gasped between his desperately needed inhales of breath that Naruto knocked out of him.

"_He_ deserves every bit of it!!"

"No! P-please… Naruto… You will regret this…"

"REGRET? THE ONLY THING THAT I EVER REGRET SO FAR IS MAKING HIM STILL WALKED AMONG THE LIVID!! But that will all change now… I will make sure of it…" such sadism began to give Gaara a fright. Naruto looked like an insane being, his chuckles gave him chills and those crystal eyes shining with insanity only made everything worse… - the boy was losing it.

"This isn't you Naruto! Snap out of it! You can't do this! Why are you embracing the name of a _monster_?" tried Gaara, hoping to get Naruto away from his inner demons.

"Strong talk, brother…" growled Naruto with a scowl, "But does it look like I _care _anymore??!"

"Y-You…" stabilizing himself onto his feet, Gaara glared at the blond, "…you are _weak_, Naruto…" he stressed out the word, fully aware of the result it shall give, which proved him right when he found Naruto standing in his face.

"You have no right… you have _no right_ to accuse me of weakness, Gaara! YOU KNOW NOTHING!!" slamming him back against the wall, Naruto clenched the red-head's neck tight, "You and _him_… you two don't know how _much_ I suffer…; what kind of pain I am going through _every_ day…; how many _scars_ have I yet to heal…" taking in a shaking breath, he hissed above whispers, his voice holding nothing but pain and anger, "I am what I am because of _him_. I've became a walking curse of life that has neither place nor air to breathe since that very first day…; never once to experience warmth and never to be respected. My words became whispers to the air…, my dreams were crushed… I became _nothing_. I can't even _think_ of turning my back in protecting the Leaf village without getting my bones ripped apart. Can't you see?! _He _made me this way!! ALL because of _him_," he roared pointing at confused, shocked Minato. "I grew with these thoughts, Gaara. Thoughts that I _am_ and always _will _be a monster! A loathed, disgusting, never loved _tool_ created by my OWN… FUCKING… FATHER!" he yelled and punched Gaara with all his strength in the abdomen.

Minato's heart stopped at that moment… "…Wh-what? …F-f-father? …He … he's m-my… no…, it can't be…?!" he couldn't breathe. Suddenly he let out a loud yell and grabbed a tight hold on his head as memories of his son, his little beautiful boy – they all came back…

"_What a gorgeous little boy!" _

"_What did you name him?"_

"… … _We named him – Naruto…" _

"_Take care of him, Minato!"_

"_I love ya, dad!"_

"_I love you more!!"_

"_Dad, where are ya going?"_

"_I'll be gone for a few days. But don't you worry; I'll be back sooner than you think!"_

"_Where's Naruto?"_

"_Minato… I'm sorry…"_

"_WHERE IS HE?!!"_

"…_He's gone…"_

"_HE'S NOT DEAD!! GIVE ME BACK MY SON!!"_

"_We're very sorry Minato, but there's no other way…"_

"_What happened? Why am I in the hospital?"_

"_The retrieval mission when rather harsh on your part, boy."_

"_What retrieval mission, Jiraiya?"_

"… …_The retrieval of hidden village's scroll of course."_

"_Oh. …Jiraiya, is something wrong? Why are you looking at me like that? I am alive, ain't I?"_

"_Yea… n-no… I'm sorry it's…it's just nothing…forget it!"_

"_Gennou shall be arriving in three days…"_

"_Aa, it's been a long time!"_

"_It has been so long… I am honored, Namikaze-sama!"_

"_Please-please, there is no need to be so formal, Gennou!"_

"_These men are capable workers and fine gentlemen… Especially these two!__"_

"_Please tell me your names."_

"_The name's Gaara… and this here is my brother – Naruto.__"_

"…_don't you think that asking first is the most obvious way in expressing your curiosity…, Yondaime?!"_

"_Why does that boy makes me feel so confused?!"_

"_My brother craves for respect and for people to believe in him…"_

"_Naruto, I am very sorry! I did not know that my action would offend you so much…__"_

"_I'm sorry as well…__"_

"_To be honest…, there is something about you that makes me fairly confused… Does it speak of anything to you?!__"_

"… …_no…"_

"… _It's just that of a strange feeling like I have known you before Naruto.__"_

"_Did you ever consider to become a ninja, Naruto?"_

"_No! Their all murderers! All they ever bring is pain and more unwanted suffering. Killing people, families, friends… Becoming the unstoppable machines of lust for more blood and no emotions what-so-ever… Why would I want to become a tool?"_

"_Now why would you think so poorly of ninjas?"_

"_Why?! Isn't it true?"_

"… _- it is our foremost priority to protect those in need… it's our duty."_

"_Even if you must go against your own family?"_

… … …Memories… so many erased memories of the past filled Minato's head to the list… … …

Suddenly all things started to make sense – teen's personality, looks, strength, jutsus even… Everything!

'_But that just couldn't be!?' _gaped breathless Namikaze, his hands and whole form was shaking with never experienced furry and fear…

For years did he search for _him_…for his son…for his _only_ child…. And now he was here, just a mere five meters away from him… …trying to kill him, _'…why?!…'_

"Why?!" quietly asked Minato finally daring himself to look up at the young-blond.

Slowly, Naruto turned away from the barely standing red-head who was clenching his painful stomach, and faced his 'father'.

"…N-Naruto…" whispered a soft, broken voice of Minato's as he stared at the slowly advancing blond. His whispers made the boy clench his both fists – turning knuckles white.

Minato winced when he saw a lazy stream of blood escaping between the compressed fingers.

'_So much hate… …why? …Why?!'_

"Memories hurt, don't they… _Yondaime_?!" grunted Naruto taking out one of the kunais he previously stole from Minato while calmly stepping closer and closer to the frozen 'father'.

"N…Naruto…, I… …" his voice felt lost… he could barely think, let alone say anything.

"What's the matter, _Yondaime_?" mockingly Naruto stressed Minato's position, "Are ya afraid _now_?"

"Minatooo!!" loud distant shouts and yells from the approaching shinobi echoed in the far forest, but were ignored to the presented in the lane.

"Don't let the deviant hopes get to you… because in the end nothing really matters!" Minato gasped at a sound of a hollow voice suddenly coming from behind him and he turned to look over his shoulder, only to see a flash of lightning enlighten Naruto's towering frame.

The sharp kunai shone by another lightning's blast as Naruto abruptly began to raise it high up.

A lonesome tear slid down Minato's cheek as he stared into the dead eyes of his son that stared back.

Wide smirk spread across Naruto's features before a meek whisper escaped past his lips,

"Good-bye… father…!"

_

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_

_A/N_

_**è **__Thanks to the reviewers –_ narubby23; xXShadowedfateXx; faiyaryuu; 890; MadMonki; salvor-chan; Sweet-single; -siarafaerie-101-miss; Zotikos; ElementalFoxGoddess; XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX; Saniwa; EdSpikeSesshyGirl; -emerald jaguar-; greeneboy313; Kamerreon; mrk33; enchanted nightingale; PirateCaptainBo & BrokenBloodDrops!

_**è **__replies to chp#12 reviews:_

BrokenBloodDrops – Naaah…your welcomeXD Hope this chp did its share!?;)

PirateCaptainBo – thank you-thank you so much. Thanx for the lovely reviews Bo & Ski!XD

enchanted nightingale – thank ya!;))

mrk33 – thanx!XD

Kamerreon – thank ya!;)) … …Well…I guess I did got a little bit too far with that scene of N&G killing on another!?XD Sorry…

greeneboy313 – I guess you can almost call it my 'addiction'XD… for I just can't bring myself to write the story in shorter words!? But I'll see what I can do;)) Thanx!

-emerald jaguar- – guess what?!;)) it ain't himXD

EdSpikeSesshyGirl – thanx!XD

Saniwa – thank ya!! Yes, it will be ItaNaru paring. & as for Minato… well you can almost say that he already found out about Naruto in this chpXD

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – thank ya very much for the lovely review!;))

ElementalFoxGoddess – thanx so much!;)) I'm glad that you almost 'fell' into the story! lol XD

Zotikos – thank ya!XD

-siarafaerie-101-miss – thank ya so much!!;))

Sweet-single – thanx for the review!XD

salvor-chan – thank ya very much!XD Starting with next chp-s I shall slowly begin to try & center the story between Itachi & Naruto – at 1st it ain't going to be easy for them…but I will still force those two into a relationship sooner or later!XD Jiraiya had a little part in this chp but the issue about Tsunade & Kushina shall begin in the next. Naruto's sight will be back. & thank ya so much for the book idea, it gives me lots to think about;)) Thank you!!XD

MadMonki – thank ya!;))

890 – thank ya!;))

faiyaryuu – yea…they sure are a pain!;))

xXShadowedfateXx – thank ya!XD Itachi & Minato had their own history together, which resulted them to respect one another:)

narubby23 – thanxXD & welcome to the site!;))

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	16. Chapter 16

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'_**Chapter 16'**_

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_

The first drop of the rain fell and crushed against the sharp kunai's pointy end – making the little droplets scattered into individual directions and vanish under the warm air…

…The second drop fell onto his skin – sliding down and marking an invisible line down the arm…

…Then came the third…the fourth…and soon it started to pour into an endless count that seemed to just keep going and going and never once stopping.

As the gentle drops of rain hit his skin, he suddenly felt something stir inside him…something unexplainable…; his crystal eyes slightly widened and his smirk fell…

A lonely tear slid down his cheek and fell along with petite rain drops – hitting the water under his feet.

'_I… …' _his hand began to shake… …the weapon – it suddenly felt so heavy, _'…I…I ca…' _blinking he felt another drop of silver tear leave his eyes… His chest began to clench and his breath came uneven and raspy. Suddenly the kunai slipped away from his fingers and landed with a loud splash – sinking silently and deeply down into the black water… _'…I …can't…' _

Lowering his hand, he took a few hesitant steps back, feeling his mind slowly leave his body that just began to move on its own. _'Why can't I… why…' _clenching his teeth, he closed his eyes tight as his mind began to scream to him, _'Why?? Why am I feeling this way?!' _he grabbed his hair and hissed. _'…I can't do it! …Why can't I kill him?! Why… …'_

The anger at his confused mind and the uncontrollable shake of his body brought him too much. _'…Why…'_ "WHYYY?!" he suddenly yelled out, startling the badly bleeding and shivering form of his 'father', who had yet to look away from his son. "Why do you make me feel this way?" yelled the young-teen clawing at his head. "Have I not suffered enough? Why can't you just disappear?" he shivered with each venomous word he spat at the elder.

Heaving small gasps in and out, Minato could only stare at the painful sight in front of his eyes. Darkness was trying to consume him and force him to seal his eyes close, but he just couldn't look away from the child he was losing…again.

"Why did you do this to me?!" silently whimpered Naruto, wanting nothing more than a straight answer to his questions – about his life, his fate, his being…everything… "Was I so much of a freak?! An embarrassment?!" he calmly asked in a shaking whisper, "What have I done to deserve all this?! Please tell me what?!" his knees abruptly buckled and he brought them heavily to the wet surface of the river; his whole form was shaking…, eyes were tightly shut with streams of uncontrollable tears coming down his lean cheekbones… _'…it hurts…it hurts so much…'_

Broken, teary blue eyes lightly lidded as they could barely stand the sight of the crushed soul of his son. "…" Minato clenched his eyes tight and grit his teeth together as no words could be found to answer his son; he was in so much pain that he could barely get himself to think.

"You…, You took everything that I would have had. …You… you did _this_ to me…" the young-teen stressed, gesturing to his animalistic features, "…why?! Why did you do it?! Why?!"

Outstretching his arms, Minato struggled to bring his weight up but felt that he couldn't move anymore; only that little strength he had left could he use to balance himself upon the water; he felt tired and weak. Lower than a whisper he rasped out the only word taking his whole mind, "…Naru…to…" so badly did he wanted to get to his son… to reach him and hold him in his arms… protect him… shield him away from this world…from everything and everyone.

Gritting his teeth at the warmth that one whisper brought, Naruto embraced his rising rage, "I loathe you…" he abruptly said in a deep hiss, unaware of how deeply those words were stabbing Minato's burning and slowly fading heart. "I HATE YOU!!" he screamed.

The world seemed to crush into nothing; Minato grabbed his bleeding chest and groaned in pain as his heart began to give hard, fast beats of contraction. _'I am s-sorry…Naruto…I am so sorry…' _praying to every god, Minato wished he could turn the time back; thinking that it was all because of his lost hope that his son was taking vengeance now.

"…Naru…" coughing out, Minato willed to reach for his child.

But Naruto seemed to be out of anyone's reach…in his own world – the world of painful memories and never-healing wounds. "Why me?!" he kept repeating to himself, "Why _me_?!" silently cried the broken blond, burying his face in his shaking hands.

"…Naruto… p-please…" blinking his own tears away, Minato's lost voice broke into rasps.

"Father…" abruptly came a painfully weak, soft voice from his son, "I'm scared… I am so scared…"

"N-Naru…"

"Please… please just go… go away…" whispered the young-blond, burring his fingers in his hair.

"N…no… Naruto… I won't…"

"Leave me alone…" quietly voiced out Naruto, now clenching to his hair with painful grip and giving out a silent warning.

"…please…son…"

The bloodshed eyes abruptly shot wide open and Naruto hissed in deep, foreign voice, "I am _not_ your son!"

Minato flinched and froze at the strange change in the boy's voice and character. _'What's going on?'_

Suddenly nine red-chakra-tails splashed from out of the water and grabbed Minato by the arms, elbows, legs, waist and neck – bringing him slowly up to his feet.

A previous smirk abruptly found its way back on Naruto's face and he spoke in a shaking hollow's voice, "Clemency is such a pain."

'_What's this st-strange aura? …This isn't Naruto!' _Minato gasped for more need of air as the tail around his neck began to choke him; strangely enough the one tail around his neck felt rather cold apart from the others that slowly burned through his flesh.

"That's right! I am not the Naruto you know! I am the result of your creation. A _tool_!" smirked the blond teen.

'_Wh-what?!'_ inwardly chocked out Minato.

Bringing his right-hand up, Naruto felt his smirk widen into a mad grin as stripes of chakra left his body and mixed themselves with the spinning ball of wind already in his palm. Slowly the ball tightened and made itself be felt by the rise of the disturbed winds and water.

The sound of a strange screech and the madly spinning form of the jutsu made Minato's eyes grew wide. "Wha…what is that?" he asked himself, staring at the spiral that not only destroyed every flying rock that it brought close to itself but also began to badly wound the teen's arm, who simply ignored it.

Shivering at the delightful feeling, Naruto proudly grinned and raised the jutsu high above his head, _"Wind style: Rasen-Shuriken!"_

The same type of jutsu the boy once used on Jiraiya's summoned toad-mouth fogged Minato's memories. _'My God…'_

Without as much as a foreplay, Naruto charged…

"_All because of him!!"_

"_All that pain!"_

"_Do you know how much it hurt?"_

"_I loath you!"_

"_He deserves it!"_

"_I HATE YOU!!"_

"_FATHER!!"_

Tired and worn out, Minato lidded his eyes – pain, betrayal, sorrow, confusion, anger and love was everything they revealed before closing shut. "I am very sorry…for everything…" he whispered and waited for the 'retribution'.

Last step and Naruto reached before shoving the spinning ball right into Minato's abdomen…

…however, what surprised him next was when his almost shred arm holding the jutsu got entwined by the sand and momentarily crushed under the pressure – making his bones break into crumbles and the jutsu dispel completely from the sight.

"AAaahh…!!" ruthlessly crushing the unimaginable pain in the arm, enraged, Naruto reached over to pray it away from the strong pressure, but that only resulted him to let out a second insane scream of agony as a glittering sand-blade suddenly went piercing throughout his right-chest.

"AAAAAHhhaa…" arching his back, Naruto quickly bit down hard on his lower lip. So much pain was racing through him – not only physically but also mentally. It was almost excruciating. His lip began to bleed and he soon felt his senses slowly retreat away from the insanity as his best-friend pierced his weak-spot…– _Sasuke's-wound_.

Narrowing his brows and gritting his teeth to seal away the pain, Naruto once again tried to focus onto his target and bloodlust; determent he abruptly brought his free hand up and hit the elder-blond who was staring in shock and disbelieve at the two 'brothers'.

Minato didn't even see the hand come as he was wildly smacked across the cheek with sickening sound, and sent flying away to the far cliff's wall – crashing against it he blacked out.

Naruto's actions left Gaara no choice. Standing behind the still lost-beyond-the-hatred blond in pain, the red-head scowled and turned the still gripping weapon in his hands to open the wound, making his 'brother' lose all notion of what's going on in order to stop his murderess-lust…

Naruto gasped before screaming at the top of his lungs like a wild animal as the fatal wound was opened…

"AAHh…HYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHhhhhhhhh…"

Yanking the formed katana out, Gaara watched with pained expression as Naruto fall to his elbows while clenching his opened wound with the left-hand, now gasping for dear life…

'_I am sorry, Naruto! But there was no other way.' _

Cursing himself for making his 'brother' go through so much pain in order for him to calm his emotions, Gaara grabbed the still gasping blond's broken-hand and quickly began to hightail them out of the lane, where the first Konoha ninjas started to appear.

Naruto's mind began to crack as the burning force from the wound awakened the most dreadful memories of the past his mind had kept under lock for so long…

_

* * *

_

Panting, Jiraiya jumped into the destroyed lane and gasped as he caught sight of the blond haired man lying unconscious by the shore line. Quickly he rushed to his side.

"Get me a medic down the valley! Now!!" yelled Jiraiya into the radio before turning back to his student and carefully exposed the chest-wound behind the blooded shirt.

Soon Orochimaru appeared next to him followed by two medic-nins who quickly got to work. _'How could a child do this? Let alone to his own father?' _frowned the _snake_-Sannin while the medics professionally cleaned the deep wound before healing it close.

Jiraiya looked up just in time to find three Anbu appearing. All three of them froze on the spot, staring at their leader.

Itachi clenched his fists and glared to the side, searching a particular someone. Next to him Shisui had an agape mouth and wide with worry eyes. Kakashi had the same expression as did Itachi; Turning away he quickly summoned his dogs.

"The rain is washing away their scent, Kakashi. It's no use," said Jiraiya but neither of them seemed to be listening as they only snarled and turned to leave as the dogs caught on the faint scent.

"St-stop!" suddenly came a struggled yet firm order from the coughing and hissing Minato.

Startled, the three Anbu quickly turned to look at their leader, silently glade to see him almost healed and awake, "Sir…"

"Do not… do not you _dare_ hurt them," he abruptly rasped out, forcing himself to his feet and ignoring any stern protests from the medics in the background.

Narrowing their brows at the statement, Kakashi and Itachi settled for confused and dissented glares while Shisui voiced the words in their place, "What are you saying? After everything that has happened, you wish for us to j-…"

"I said NO!" shouted Minato as he stood up, taking no notice of the burning pain in his weakly healed chest. "This is the matter I shall deal with _myself_!"

Jiraiya and Orochimaru shared a knowing look. By the voice and his behavior, both understood that Minato has finally remembered.

_

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_

Falling into the mud, Naruto spit out more of his blood and groaned as Gaara grabbed his upper-arms and urged him to move. "Get up!" hissed the not-less tired red-head darting his eyes restlessly backwards and forwards, sensing the ninjas slowly catching to them. "Get up, Naruto!!" tugging the dazed blond more forcefully, Gaara succeeded in bringing him up but had to re-catch him as the wounded blond fell back again.

"Shit!" slightly panicked, Gaara hoisted Naruto's one arm around his shoulder and helped him up by grabbing his waist. The heavy drops of rain only made it harder to support Naruto's practically deadweight with his as it was subconsciously slipping away.

"Dam it!! Come on!" growled Gaara and heaved the panting and coughing blond with him.

"…I can't… …hurts …no more…" weakly rasped Naruto, feeling his knees buckle again.

"Please Naruto…move, we have to get out of here," panted the red-head trying to hold him to his feet. He knew that it will all lead to this…; he knew that all these attempts in escaping now were all pointless…; but for Naruto's own sake he just couldn't give up. He was the one to chastise his 'brother' with the most severe punishment one could ever experience, and now he was paying the price… It was his entire fault.

Ignoring the shake of his feet, Gaara struggled to hold Naruto up. "We've gotten so far, Naruto…so far! This can't all end like this. Please…get up," his mind screamed in alarm as the ninjas advanced.

"…I don'… I don't want, Gaara…no more… I don't want to fight anymore…" silently breathed Naruto clenching at his opened chest that was draining him out of his whole strength instead of healing itself close. "…it is… too… …much…"

"Naruto…"

"I wan' … I just want to go home…" the youngest of 'brothers' couldn't bring himself to do anything anymore as he closed his eyes and finally slumped against the red-head.

Looking down at the broken soul, Gaara could only stare and breathe in heavy pants – he couldn't do it all alone…, he was so tired…; abruptly he gave his trembling feet out and gently slid them both to the ground. Letting Naruto's head drop on his chest, Gaara shakily exhaled and buried his face into Naruto's wet hair, listening to the hitting drops of rain and harsh gasps of the teen in his arms.

'_God…let it all be ok,' _silently prayed Gaara.

The soft patter of the following feet slowly came to a complete stop…

Holding Naruto secure to his chest, Gaara blinked his eyes open and looked up from underneath his wet bangs at the silent group of calmly panting shinobi standing a careful distance away.

"…dark… it's so dark… …"

Averting his eyes down, Gaara's expression saddened at the sight of the shivering form mumbling incomprehensible words in his grasp. Running his fingers through the wet strands of his 'brother's' hair, Gaara's eyes shifted to stare at the tied string around Naruto's neck that held a blue gem on it. Taking the glittering jewel between his fingers, Gaara fingered it a bit before ripping it off of Naruto's neck and placing securely in his pocket.

Just then Minato jumped into the clearing and inhaled silently once his eyes landed on the two forms holding each other close. His eyes softly lidded at the sight. Sparing no words to the others, he began to approach the two teens, ignoring all the worried and protesting looks and whispers.

Carefully eyeing his every move, Gaara subconsciously brought Naruto closer to himself as Minato came nearer and nearer.

Stopping by the teens' feet, Minato's half-lidded eyes met the tired green and he carefully kneeled down without breaking an eye contact.

Taking in deep breaths, Gaara slightly tensed up as Minato abruptly broke their intense stare to avert his eyes onto Naruto.

Slowly bringing up his shaking hand, Minato spared Gaara a wary look before carefully reached over and lightly brushing Naruto's hair.

The said teen let out a meek hitch and Minato quickly retreat his hand away, but not too far since after some time he placed it back and tenderly ran it through the golden locks of his child's hair.

"…please…" suddenly came a small whimper from the blond-teen, "…please …leave me alone…" he whimpered into the red-head's chest, trying to get away from the warm feeling that entwined around his heart every time his 'father' touched him.

Inwardly flinching at the words, Minato closed his eyes to hide the pain before opening them to look directly at the red-head with an unspoken request.

Gaara read the man's silent plea and narrowed his eyes, silently answering with a 'no'.

Swallowing, Minato closed his eyes and rasped out, "…p…please…" he begged, "… …he's my child…"

Staring deep at the Namikaze, Gaara lowered his gaze and looked down at shivering Naruto. _'Forgive me, Naruto…' _Running his hand tenderly through the wet bangs of his 'brother', Gaara then gently grabbed Naruto's hand and prayed it away from his wrist he was holding. Giving a wary look to the man before him, he allowed Minato to take Naruto away from his grasp.

'…_n-no…no… I don't… why… why can't you just go… go away…?!' _a silver tear left Naruto's eyes and ran down the whiskered cheek as he felt those warm and tender hands suddenly take him from his 'brother' and pick him from the ground.

'… …_why can't I kil-…' _suddenly everything went silent and Naruto's echoes fell into the dark abyss of his mind.

The undersides of Minato's eyes slightly watered as he watched the small blond unknowingly bury his face into his restlessly beating chest and loosen his claws away from scratching against his chest before letting them fall limp; the boy fell into unconsciousness.

Struggling to stand up, Gaara felt two hands abruptly grab his upper-arms and help him; looking over his shoulder he narrowed his eyes as his gaze met Itachi's.

Saying nothing, the young-Uchiha brought him to his feet but didn't let go of the grip.

"It should never have happened this way, Gaara." bringing the attention onto himself, Minato suddenly stated below a whisper.

Turning to the said man, Gaara looked into sky blue eyes, so similar to Naruto's. For some time they just stared at one another, silently reading one another's eyes, till finally Minato broke this façade by speaking loud enough for only Gaara and Itachi to hear. "I now know what you were trying to do. And that your intentions were far beyond the malice." closing his eyes, Minato frowned at the next statement, "But… you must understand that we'll still be taking you both ba-…"

"I understand, Namikaze-sama," hating the long speeches, Gaara cut in and answered shortly, "I shall not oppose! … …However," he looked at the sleeping blond and tried to think of the words that could explain the issue more clearly, but Minato seemed to get the meaning and nodded.

"For the benefit of you and me I wouldn't suggest you to keep me apart from Naruto for long," silently said Gaara, giving a small warning. "The wound that I opened in him does not mean that he had been bond to the submission or that his powers had been sealed away…, quite the reverse. It's a temporal restriction that can lead to drastic consequences especially when he shall regain his conscious and realize that I ain't near him."

Lidding his eyes, Minato nodded, "I will try to help, Gaara. But I can't promise anything. The orders are very strict in this village."

'_I already know that…' _lowering his eyes on Naruto, Gaara then closed them to calm his shaken nerves. _'I just hope they shall not completely align with our home's orders.'_

Watching the tired red-head for some time, Minato bowed his head and looked at his steadily breathing son. _'Thank you, Gaara!' _

_

* * *

_

"Your last report stated that two participants from your group – namely Naruto and Gaara – shall leave the Leaf village on the July 9 due to the urgent visit to your sister. Or should we say – their 'aunt'!? But because of the sudden attack on the village that permission was unauthorized till the time everything would fall to its rightful places. So tell me now – how come the brothers, fully kept under your charge, still broke the law and evacuated the village without a given permission?! Not to mention, why is it only the previous day did I get a report stating that Naruto and Gaara are actually two rogue ninjas with a power that can take down not only the whole Lighting country but the whole damn Konoha as well?!" the Hokage narrowed his eyes at the old man sitting in front of him. "You lied to us, Gennou! You allowed two unknown trespassers to enter the village under fake identities. Why?"

Gennou gave a calm blink with a small smile. "You're unusually stressed today Hiruzen. Did those two really got the whole Konoha to break a sweat? Well I'll say…" he couldn't hold back an amused chuckle.

"Enough of your games, Gennou!" warningly hissed Sarutobi. "Do you even realize what kind of a situation you're in right now?! God! You should be grateful that this whole mess has not reached the ears of the council yet."

Frowning, Gennou suddenly said with serious voice, "Do not inform the council about the brothers, Sandaime!"

Arching a brow at the used name, Sarutobi silently collected his thoughts and took a whiff from his pipe. "What exactly is going on, Gennou?!" he asked more calmly now. "I know that there must be a reason why you didn't tell us about the brothers. I trust your judgments. But I can't help if you won't speak!"

Leaning deeper into the chair standing in front of the Hokage's desk, Gennou took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes, having to bring both hands up because of the sealed handcuffs around his wrists. "Do you remember what happened six years ago?"

Sandaime's eyes dropped. "Past memories are hard to erase as it is, Gennou. Why do you have to bring them up _now_?"

"Because it is time to wake them in Minato!"

Hokage's eyes widened. "Are you insane?!" raising his voice, Sarutobi stood up from his seat, "What will it accomplish? Awakening the past memories of his, my God I hope I'm wrong, _dead_ son will only bring more pain for him. Minato has enough on his shoulders as it is, he doesn't need more. The death of Kushina is still silently tearing him apart. Think what will the death of-…"

"You _are_ wrong, Hiruzen! He's alive." interrupted Gennou sliding his glasses back up.

"…-his so-… What?" catching his own tongue, the Hokage looked at Gennou with big and narrow eyes. "What did you just say?!"

"Minato… Minato's son… is alive… and he's here – in the Fire country. But…he isn't _completely_ here." Gennou tried to explain but that was not that easy.

"What are you talking about?!" shocked Sarutobi almost tripped as he rounded the desk and walked over to other man. "What does it mean 'completely'? Speak!! _Is_ he or is he _not_ alive?!"

Gennou looked deep into Hiruzen's desperate wide eyes that restlessly went through every emotion one could know…

_

* * *

_

Light sounds of feet splashing against the many formed puddles alerted the citizens from their homes and presented them with the view of the chasing-retrieval group finally emerging through the village's gates. Many medics passed as they rushed to help the injured as while families and friends ran to greet their fathers, husbands and buddies.

Eight of the _leafs _ignore everything that's happening around as they wordlessly continued their walk down the cleared road leading to the Hokage Residence. Whispers and strange looks from the citizens and other shinobi were directed at them as they passed…

"Is that _them_?"

"Yes, the one Namiaze-sama is holding and the other one the Anbu are guiding."

"Oh my God, what _are_ they?!"

"Demons…"

"What kind of creatures do the lands hold?"

"Monsters…"

"Is that his brother?!"

"Why is Namikaze-sama even carrying something so dangerous?!"

"Namikaze!" a sudden deep voice coming from the group of appearing black Anbu troops forced Minato to stop in his way and finally look up from the unmoving teen in his arms. His eyes fell onto an old scarred-face man with half of his head bandaged up.

Narrowing his brows, carefully the Namikaze asked, "Yes, Danzo?!"

The elder man frowned at the lack of honorifics in his name but brushed it aside once his eye fell onto an unconscious blond teen. "Seems that a mere child's play has made you running around in circles for two days. It surprises me that you finally succeeded." he mocked, now staring at the chained emotionless red-head, who was held a chains distance by secretly glaring Itachi, Shisui and Kakashi.

The corners of Minato's lips twitched upwards, "You might've been surprised," calmly he mocked back, "…that is, _if_ you weren't cowering in your deep lair and actually came to the asset once it really was necessary."

Furrowing his visible brow, Danzo replied, "Deep apologies Namikaze-_san_, I would undoubtedly love to keep this meaningless conversation going, but I'm afraid I'll die from boredom…"

Minato's nails dug into his son's flesh unknowingly from the anger, _'…the nerve…'_

"…In any case, I recommend you and your men to go and get a rest. Judging your look my guess is that these days have cost you far too much of endurance. In the mean time, _I_ will be taking things from here." Danzo then signaled his troops to take Naruto and Gaara off their shoulders; but as soon as the Root began to move they momentarily froze at a loose killing intent that abruptly spread around the whole area, shocking the poor innocent citizens as well as the ninjas who knew Minato and never had once experienced such a feeling from him.

Mentally paralyzing almost the whole Konoha, Minato turned his heavy gaze back to fidgeting Danzo and spoke through his teeth, "With all due respect Danzo-_san_, but I must decline this unwearied 'generosity' of yours. As the direct order from the Sandaime-sama himself, I believe it is still _my_ mission to make sure that these two boys are taken to the Hokage until the further notice. And while I still stand this matter shall be mine to proceed and _mine_ to handle." letting out a playful grin, he then said with a hint of a tease, "Until then, as a comrade and as your soon to become higher in command, I suggest _your _men to back down and take a _rest_… at least for once in their whole lives. That is, unless there is anything else you would like to try and usurp?!"

'_Insolent little brat,' _inwardly hissed Danzo glaring at Minato, who stood his ground. "Hn, be it that way…" _'…for now.'_ dismissing the Root and turning to leave he gave one more look at Gaara and Naruto before adding with a smirk to Minato, "Please do keep this interesting till it lasts. It shall only be my upmost pleasure to absorb how long you will stand against a monster."

Glaring at the limping man's back, Minato mentally cursed his path and looked down at Naruto. _'He shall not take you away from me… not again.'_

_

* * *

_

The entrance door swung open with a bang and the Third Hokage walked out of the Tower. His eyes ran through the rainy mist till they spotted what he was searching for…

'_My God… Naruto!'_

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_**è **__thank you all for the reviews – _BrokenBloodDrops; Kisanei; xXShadowedfateXx; Kamerreon; enchanted nightingale; EdSpikeSesshyGirl; XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX; 890; MadMonki; salvor-chan; -emerald jaguar-; SPB Wolf; -siarafaerie-101-miss; mihel asyki akatsuki schizo; dimensiontimetraveler; dark-kitsune-chan; narubby23; Fluffy-luvr & whiteinu1!

_**è **__replies:_

whiteinu1 – XD I guess I already have someone in mind for Gaara!XD

Fluffy-luvr – thanx!!XD

narubby23 – thanx!!XD

dark-kitsune-chan – thanx!XD

dimensiontimetraveler – thanx!XD The father-n-son relationship shall eventually bloom;))

mihel asyki akatsuki schizo – thanx!XD

-siarafaerie-101-miss – thanx!!XD

SPB Wolf – thanx!XD

-emerald jaguar- – fine… I'll tell you this – for now we'll just have to see how long will Suigetsu withstand against Gaara…!?…;))

salvor-chan – Thank ya!!XD The main central of this part of the story is Naruto, Gaara, Minato & Itachi. The deal with Sasuke so far is that he has no connections with _this_ Naruto yet & that's why I didn't try & put him as one of the main characters. But eventually he shall become… just not yet;))

MadMonki – thanx!XD & I guess I have decided the pair for Gaara;))

890 – thanx!!XD

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – that's me!XD thank ya for the sweet review;))

EdSpikeSesshyGirl – thank ya so much!!XD

enchanted nightingale – thanx!!XD I'm happy to hear it!!;))

Kamerreon – thanx so much!XD

xXShadowedfateXx – thank ya!!XD happy to hear it!;))

Kisanei – thanx!XD

BrokenBloodDrops – XD XD

* * *


	17. Chapter 17

* * *

'_**Chapter 17'**_

* * *

The restless tapping of a pen against a desk and the shake of his leg made Minato's anxiousness only grow. _'God, what is taking so long?!'_

It's been almost two hours since the medics check up on him and his men, and now he was awaiting the results of his son's health. Naruto was still in the medics' hands, whereas Gaara had been taken into an imprisonment under the Hokage's orders till he shall be summoned for the interrogation.

Staring at the frowning man, Sarutobi took calm whiffs from his pipe and kept quiet, deciding to leave him at peace. Instead, he silently recalled all the information Gennou had shared with him. …If he will to believe Gennou's words, which however he fully could not, – then awakening Minato's memories of the painful past only to tell him that his supposedly dead son is alive but is not practically his real son will be just absurd. _'Dam you Gennou and your mind games!'_

Finally the door to the Hokage's office opened and a doctor in white attire came in. Before he could even speak, Minato asked,

"What's his condition?" this question startled Sandaime and he turned to look warily at his student.

Flinching at the deep voice, the medic quickly composed himself and replied, "He's mind is still in an unconscious state. We believe that the cause of it might be the majority loss of his blood or the inner breakdown of the system. Supposedly it's the latter. It proves by the fact that most of his extremities are broken; the muscles are twisted; his right shoulder blade has been breached and the spine is lightly cracked. Normally such wounds should have brought an end to him let alone enable him to move… but, as amazing as it may be, apparently he is as unbreakable as a steal. On top of that, this creature's body is doing pretty fine on its own; it is healing itself."

Minato's jaw hardened at the given name to his son and the tapping of the pen quickened. "Anything else?" he asked through clenched teeth.

"Yes. His right-hand's muscles and bones are torn to shreds." The tapping stopped at that sentence.

'_What? …'_

"Apparently the technique that was used has done its fair share."

Minato remembered that…, he could still hear that horrid screech….

"In anyways, it should be pleasing to know that this particular case prevents him from using any of jutsus. He is immobilized." continued the doctor, smiling in reassuring matter, "So you should not be worried. The damage to the arm made him completely harmless. If you ask me, I think you shou-…"

Before the doctor could say anything more, Minato abruptly spoke, "Can you heal it?"

The doctor looked at him with shock, "My apologies, sir, but surely you don't know what you're thinking of. By giving him his ability back we place ourselves at a great risk. …E-even if so, I doubt we could-…"

"I asked you: Can you heal his arm?!" raising his voice, Minato finally turned to look at the doctor, irritated.

Glimpsing at indifferent but frowning Sarutobi, the confused doctor swallowed as he gazed back at the glaring Namikaze and stuttered out, "N-no… we…we can't h-heal it, sir. Such an injury is beyond our abilities of help."

Deepening his glare, Minato turned away from him. "You many leave."

Watching the doctor bow and exit with deep curiosity shining in his eyes, Sarutobi turned to Minato as he was asked upon,

"Is there anything you would like to tell me, Sarutobi?"

"Apart from that what you already know?!" Sandaime already guessed by the speech that Minato found out about his 'son'.

Staring at his reflection in the window, Minato frowned. "How long?"

"Come again?"

"How long has it been since my son's disappearance?" he elaborated, confirming the elder's suspicion further.

Closing his eyes, Sandaime sank into memories, "Six years…" a snap of the pen breaking made him open his eyes back and look over to his student.

"Six years?!" silently replied to himself Minato.

"Yes… But everything is much more complicated than that Minato. You might not be pleased."

"How so?!"

"_That_ you shall find out from Gennou. It'll be too improbable if you will hear it coming from my mouth. Anyway, call me when you will bring him for interrogation; there are still parts that I want to make sure of myself…." standing up from the couch, Sarutobi sighed and dismissed himself, preparing for his meeting with the elders.

'_The old man Gennou, huh!?'_ "…" closing his eyes, Minato turned his back to the exiting _Third_, "No…" he said abruptly, making the Sandaime stop by the door and blink curiously. "…I want to hear it from Gaara."

* * *

"In all of the most twisted dreams, could you have ever imagined that such petite children would be able to bring the whole village to cover under their knees?" referring the sentence on certain two brats, Shisui scratched his aching neck while leaning against the wall in the hallway. He along with many other meddling and curious nins were by the medic's door which currently held and, for the obscure reason, even tried to _heal_ the most dangerous creature alive. _'Devil will understand that man!?'_ "Why did Minato command everyone to keep those two a secret from the elders? Either way it's just a matter of time before every Nation in the world will find out about them…"

"What's the matter Shisui?" mocked the sly _snake-_Sannin sitting on the chair opposite of the Uchiha, "Does the mood change rises because of the desperate thought about you actually getting fooled and beaten up by a _mere_ child?"

"Look who's talking!?" glared Shisui, "Was it _me_ who got his tongue sliced into two parts?!"

Groaning, Orochimaru sent a glare at an innocent looking Suigetsu sitting on the floor, "Whenever will you learn to keep that mouth shut?!"

Appearing around the corner, Jiraiya walked over to the bickering group of some glaring and others smirking shinobi by the heavy guarded room.

"The elder brat has been isolated. It's a surprise that he didn't even put up a fight." informing Orochimaru of the news, which of course everyone curiously perked their ears at, Jiraiya set next to him.

"Who is placed to look after him?" asked the other Sannin.

"Itachi and Kakashi. With their eyes close on him there won't be a problem."

Sasuke's eye twitched at the statement and he snarled before turning away and looking at the closed door of the medical room.

"Don't burn the door, Uchiha." snickered the aqua-haired at Sasuke who sent him a nasty glare. "Just saying…" defensively grinned Suigetsu, before he blinked as he suddenly spotted four forms of black Root members approaching their direction. "What's going on?"

The masked black Anbu brushed pass them and boldly entered the medical room without a single word.

"What a hell do you think you're doing?" Jiraiya quickly shot up to his feet, ready to leap…, but was stopped short by a sudden deep voice coming from behind,

"Sit down and be silent! That's none of your concern."

Turning around, the Sannin scowled as Danzo limped into view.

"What are you doing here?" demanded the Toad-Sage, not bothering to hide his hatred full voice.

"I suggest you to not interfere, Sannin. This matter is out of your reach." stepping closer, Danzo looked at Jiraiya with bored and arrogant eye.

The door abruptly opened again and out came the Root members, carrying the unconscious and still badly bruised Naruto with them.

Quickly appearing in front of the silent Anbu, Orochimaru blocked their way. "Where are you taking him?" the look in his eyes made them fidget visibly.

"Move away, Orochimaru! Or you'll be apprehended for the order's defiance," ordered Danzo, pushing the _snake-_Sannin not too gently to the side with his stick.

Glaring at the wooden-stick pushing against his upper-arm, he looked over his shoulder at the elder male. "You have no right…"

"On the contrary." smirked Danzo and without bothering to explain anything more he nodded his troops to move. Turning around, he sent everyone else a cold glare, daring them to speak, and soon disappeared with his men in the direction from which they came, taking Naruto with them.

The two Sannin could only stand and stare after as they left; they could not go against the _elder_.

Glancing at still glaring Jiraiya, wordlessly Orochimaru turned and quickly headed to the direction of the Hokage's office.

Everyone in the hall absorbed the scene with rising confusion. _'What is going on?'_ They turned to the Sannin and frowned, the situation was becoming tense with unspoken questions as the others couldn't understand what is it about the two rogue boys that has not only the Namikaze but also the Sannin suddenly so worked up and defensive of them?!

* * *

Entering the office, Sarutobi exhaled a good amount of air and rubbed his temples. "Meetings with the elders are such a pain. Glad it'll soon be your burden to carry." Slyly smiling at the indifferent Namikaze, Sarutobi sighed for receiving cold back and went over to sit on the couch. "Mina', I-…"

The door abruptly flung opened before the _Third_ could say anything more and Orochimaru marched in. "Would you mind telling what is the meaning of this?!" he hissed.

The two other men in the room arched their brows. Minato frowned, "What are you talking about?"

Turning his yellow eyes on the Sandaime, the Sannin hardened his gaze to which the old man merely closed his own and turned the other way, proceeding in lightning his smoking pipe.

"Danzo has taken the boy…" the _snake _uttered.

Minato's eyes went wide, "Danzo?"

"Apparently the elders of the council have found out about brothers." turning his gaze back on Minato, the Sannin absorbed his reaction…

"…" …which was turning Minato's unreadable features into the ones of the raged demon's. "Who told them!? I thought I made it _specifically_ clear to _everyone_ to keep their traps _shut_!! Did Danzo do this?" he almost yelled.

"Most likely."

"Where?" he asked, wanting to know nothing more but the current whereabouts of his son. "Where has he taken Naruto?"

Shrugging and opening his mouth to speak, Orochimaru blinked as he was quickly interrupted…

"That's what I've been trying to tell you about…before Orochinaru burst into the room." sending the Sannin an irritating look, Sandaime then explained, "The boy has been transported from the hospital care and placed in the restricted-area…"

"Excuse me!?" Minato stared unbelievingly at Sarutobi. "Are you telling me that _my_ child, still in the state of unconsciousness and barely enough chakra left to sustain his _life_, not to mention with opened fatal wounds, had been placed in the torture's room?! Who dare-…"

"I allowed it." closing his eyes Sandaime spoke up.

Minato halt in his outburst and shocked he blinked at the elder. "You?" his eyes narrowed dangerously.

"There was no other way around it; the council stood firm and that was the least I could get. Relax, Mina'! This is a normal proce-…" Sarutobi's eyes jerked open at the loud sound of the door suddenly slamming. "Shit," groaning at the empty room, save one still blinking Sannin in it, Sarutobi hurried to catch up with the reckless man who had just exited the office in a blink of an eye.

* * *

Arriving at the hospital and ignoring every familiar faces he passed, Minato opened the doors and quickly scanned the room, ascertain in finding it empty.

"Where?" he asked as he felt the Hokage approaching behind him.

"Minato, calm dow-…"

"Where!?" he was losing his patience fast.

Frowning, Sarutobi lightly chewed on his pipe and wordlessly turned around after nodding with his head for Minato to follow.

As they walked off, the others who were found still in the hall of the hospital followed them with frowning eyes and arched brows.

"What on Earth is going on?!"

* * *

Half an hour later…

Glaring out the window and into the rain, Minato clenched the flesh of his crossed arms, half listening and half ignoring the speaking old fools behind him. After seeing the…_place_…his son was taken to, made him want to do nothing more but execute the rotten members of the so called council which were by now in the Hokage's office adjudicating 'brothers' of their fate with him (as the future Hokage) and his teacher…

"…This matter is not negotiable." contradicted a deep voice of a wise old man – Homura Mitokado, standing in the middle of the room besides an equally wise looking old woman. "With the power they hold, those boys are a danger to this village as well as the world itself and must be brought to judgment."

"The fact that they've been hiding their true abilities is indeed inexcusable. …But regardless of their indocility, Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun still stand as legal villagers of our allied country the Sunagakure and as of now…the savers of the Leaf village." formulating the words, Sarutobi tried to persuade the elders with the facts and make them reconsider their rush choice about the punishment.

"Who is their charge?" asked an aged woman of the council – Koharu Utatane.

"Gennou," whispered Minato, his voice holding nothing but odium.

"Gennou-san…?! The builder?"

"No… A recently resigned member of the Suna Council and a close friend to the Kazekage." pointedly stated Sarutobi, making the two members of the council go stiff; they were unaware that _that_ man held such a strong position.

"You would do well if you would take on discount the fact that those boys are literally protected by the Nation and the head of Sunagakure. If we shall bring judgment – we shall unleash war." further elaborated the _Third_, intentionally feeding them with hazardous lies.

The elders exchange glances.

Mitokado adjusted his glasses and grumbled out reluctant words, "Devastating… Though if that is so, then we have no choice but to grant them…_pardon_. It wouldn't be wise to risk our chances with the Sand village."

"Their influence is of no excuse to their disloyalty towards Konoha," argued the elder woman. "But nevertheless…, if the punishment cannot be executed because of the risk to lose our connection with the Sunagakure…then fine; we shall make them sign a treaty with us instead. They will be warrant of their mistakes by making alliance with us."

"Agreed," The other elder gave a nod and Sarutobi shook his head in disappointment.

Minato's eyes widened as that statement hit a memory line once said by his child…

"…_I've became a walking curse of life that has neither place nor air to breathe since that very first day… …never once to experience warmth and never to be respected… …A loathed disgusting, never loved _tool_…"_

"…a tool…" Minato didn't even notice himself loudly repeating that one word his son had outspoken in their encounter.

The others in the room blinked and looked at the blond man's back. "What?"

Narrowing his eyes whilst still staring out the window, Minato grumbled, "No."

"What does it mean 'no'?!" frowned Mitokado.

Turning his head slightly to the side to be able to look at them from the corner of his eye, Minato retorted. "I said: You shall _not_ force them into the alliance!"

"Namikaze-sama…this is-…"

"As far as I understand…" not letting them speak, the blond raised his voice higher and turned fully around, "…you wish to _use_ those two children as _objects_ who will be forced to risk their lives over something they protected willingly from the very start and _something_ that is now turning their triumph into a punishment!?" sneering in irritating manner, he shook his head, "No. …I shall _not_ accept it …and nor will I _allow_ you to do it!"

"Mind your words carefully, Namikaze." narrowing her brows, the elder woman retorted smugly, "After all, it was _you_ who brought them both back to us on your own will. And this is the decision we make…whether you agree to it or not."

Minato's eyes slightly widened, guilt written all over them. _'It's true. …But I didn't…not after I found out…' _Blinking, he quickly masked his eyes away from any spills and looked carefully at the two mighty looking elders. "For the caution and as of the given order from a wise man who shall pass an honorable decision to them…I did." scowling in disgust, he continued, "Not as the order from mentally deranged people such as yourselves."

"It's for the protection of the village! Punishment and docility is in order. You of all people should understand this," trying to hit the nerve, Utatane practically barked as she hoped to provoke the future Hokage.

"The village?" turning his clam eyes on the woman, Minato's lips tugged upwards, "With people like _you_… Sometimes I wonder – is it the village that needs protection or is it the village that needs to be protected _from_!?" Walking closer and closer till he was almost in the fidgeting two elders' faces, Minato snarled as he looked them throughout, "You are a disgrace!"

Both members gasped before growling, "How dare you…!?"

"I shall not tolerate such contempt any further. Leave!" closing his eyes, Minato turned his back to them uninterested. "…Before I lose my patience and throw you out myself."

"You're putting us all at risk!" hissed Utatane.

"Don't think the higher-ups won't hear about this!" joined Mitokado as he threatened.

"You will _never_ become the Hokage after this!"

"Maybe not… But unless that day shall come, I will personally see to it that you shall be _expelled_ from the lands." glaring pass his shoulder, Minato growled out a threat of his own.

"What impudenc-…"

"GET OUT!!" unable to hold it in anymore, he slammed his fist against the Hokage's desk, shattering it into pieces.

The members of the council practically stormed out.

Slouching back into the chair, Minato held his forehead in his hands, his elbows on his knees, and glared at the broken pieces of wood by his feet.

Finally tearing his wide eyes away from the door, Sarutobi looked at Minato with the same frozen expression, "Well… I'd be lying if I'd say I'm not impressed and proud. Never did I see them fly out of the office so quickly." he couldn't help but chuckle.

"Do you mind?!" looking pointedly annoyed at his teacher, Minato tried to show that his mind was in the furthest end from jokes right now.

"Sure…" amused, the _Third_ looked away and proceeded to smoke his pipe; though his smile soon was lost, "I hope you know what you're doing, Minato. It's not our place to go into such lengths as to lie to the council. And have you forgotten that it is exactly the council that bears the power of electing the next leader of the village?!"

"Do not judge my actions, Sarutobi-sensei. As much as I love this village and wish to become the protector of every single one of these citizens…, I will never put it all before the welfare of my son! Besides…, council stands no chance against the decision of the higher-ups. It is for them to adjudicate."

"As long as we talk about the higher-ups; it's only a matter of time now before the question about brothers shall rise. What do you plan on telling the Nation?"

Entwining his fingers together, Minato rested his forehead against them, saying nothing. _'I don't know…'_

Sarutobi sighed, "Minato, I know that you are scared, worried and want nothing more than to protect your…son. But before things have gone any further and God help us if you will lose your chance on the position of becoming the next Hokage, I think you should first find out the truth. …That might change _everything_. Your son is not what you think he is."

Looking pass his hands, Minato narrowed his brows at Sarutobi before saying only a couple of words, "Get me Gaara…"

* * *

Deep green eyes slowly slid open and blinked as the heavy doors of the dark cell were loudly unlocked and the cold room was momentarily enlightened by the lights from the hall's torches.

The chains clung as Gaara looked up from his position against the wall; his whole body was bonded with heavy metal chains and his hands were covered in seals; his pose could clearly resemble a cross.

An Anbu stepped inside the cell and turned to the other two in it. "Captain. Hokage-sama wishes to see him." Nodding with the affirmative, _Sharingan_ eyes looked back at Gaara while five more Anbu stepped into the cell, fully on guard and prepared if the red-head will attack. This made Gaara hid his face into the shadows and smirk.

* * *

Entering a dark room, Gaara was dragged over to the enlightened middle of the room where a tall scarred-faced man known to him as Ibiki stood. The Anbu roughly brought him down to his knees and as they held him still, Ibiki chained his hands by the heavy looking irons that hung from the high ceiling. Finishing the seals around the locks, the Anbu turned and left, leaving him in the exposed and vulnerable state as he would call it.

As soon as the doors closed, a figure came out of the room's shadows. Gaara blinked and looked from the closed door up to the towering form of the Namikaze. Behind him, still lightly covered by the shadows, stood the old man Sarutobi with Ibiki and his real homeland's Godaime – Tsunade.

'_The heads, an interrogator and a doctor… great combination for a never ending torture,' _at some point Gaara felt amused.

"Thank you Ibiki, you may leave." To Gaara's surprise the Namikaze abruptly dismissed the interrogator who left without a word.

'_Was it all just for the show to get the Anbu away?' _Narrowing his eyes in interest, Gaara watched him go till he heard the blond man speaking again,

"Tsunade, if you please."

Gaara spun his head away from the closing door and blinked as the blond woman knelt before him and placed her green-chakra glowing hands over his bare abdomen, where Naruto left a pretty large bruise… which reminded him,

"Where's Naruto?" _'Is he alright?'_

Staring down at him for somewhat seconds, Minato then answered in empty voice, "He's been placed in the seal-room."

'_The seal…room…'_ Gaara's eyes widened for a brief moment before quickly disappearing into nothingness.

Minato caught the realization look as he wondered, "Sounds familiar?"

"… …yes." Bowing his head, Gaara looked down at Tsunade's bandaged hands and still weakly looking state, _'Probably after her fight against the Rokubi,' _he guessed though didn't dwell on it much longer as his mind wondered off to that 'seal-room'…

"_The seal-room is only a substructure to one giant seal. That place shall suck out the victim's chakra in less than a day till he/she shall be at the brick of death… And the worst part is that the victim is not even aware of that process happening no matter the state he or she is in."_ he remembered his teacher Baki once telling him and Naruto about 'that' room. _'So when Naruto shall wake up, he won't be even able to bend as much as a finger, thus giving them the satisfaction of his incapability in attacking them.'_ silently Gaara inferred, _'However what they don't know is that the supply of Naruto's chakra is nowhere near that easy to drain, it may take days…. Not to mention the second source of power that is sealed in him and cannot be unlocked without its vessel's knowledge.'_

"What is his current state?" the red-head asked, his voice colored with worry.

Minato seemed reluctant to speak. "Naruto… …has lost his ability to manipulate chakra. His right arm is shred on the internally."

"…" green eyes didn't bother to hide their revealing shock anymore, _'…no… …no, this wasn't supposed to happen…! Fool. WHY did he use _that_ jutsu?!'_ closing his eyes shut, Gaara sealed away every emotion which wanted to jump out. _'…He is permanently impotent now.'_ "…why did it all come to this?" he murmured under his breath.

"Indeed, it's an interesting question," abruptly intervened the _Third_. "But what I seem to not understand is why did you and your brother save the Leaf village that you so _desperately_ tried to escape from? What was the motive? You could've just left it to its fate and ran away."

"We would…" Gaara's voice became deep and full of rage. "But we soon realized that we _physically_ were unable to."

"Would you mind explaining?"

Gaara looked up at the elder through his bangs and glared. "We are bonded to this village by a 'contract', which states that we are to protect the village if it is attacked. We cannot leave it unless the threat is removed. If we do, the curse of the contract shall make our body suffer in the most unimaginable degrees. In other words – literally rip our muscles, bones or even fatal organs to bits. Knowing fully well about our quick healing abilities…it didn't take long for the contract to be established." he explained, hiding the names of those who're responsible. "There is no motive… there is only a force onto an order."

"Who gave such an order?"

Absorbing the three pairs of eyes studying him now intensively, Gaara decided to humor them, "… … …Konohagakure."

Everyone seemed to forget how to breathe.

"What?!" Tsunade and Minato asked in union whilst Sarutobi closed his eyes and exhaled the held breath. _'I've seen many wonders in this world but it starts to appear I have not lived yet that long to see so many more.'_

Arching a brow at Gaara's reply, Minato glanced at his teacher, silently asking if there was something that he's been left out off…, but the old man seemed to be somewhere too far in his own mind right now, so he turned back to the red-head. "Is this some sort of a joke?! Konoha has never given such an order."

Locking his emotionless eyes with Minato, Gaara asked, "Are you sure I am speaking about the same _world's_ land as you?!" trying to get Minato to guess, he stayed indifferent.

Narrowing his eyes, Minato mentally argued with himself before he snarled as one formulating theory soon popped into his head which he instantly denied, "Bullshit! This is not even possible…" _'There's no way I will ever believe that they're from another dimension. That's just ridiculous.'_ "How can one even expect me to believe in such a foolish tale as dimensional nexus? Where's the proof?!"

"Silly and strange theory it surely is. …unexplainable and yet so close to our sight." agreed Sarutobi once he came back from his mind and absorbed the unreadable red-head. "When I took the liberty of interrogating Gennou, he confirmed me on the same matter and at some point I believed him. But now that I think about it… who said that he didn't instruct _you_, Gaara, to tell us the exactly same thing or maybe a _lie_ as he did? How can we be sure you're telling us the truth when it comes to considering such a myth?"

'_I knew you all wouldn't believe in it because…'_ "You're all just too easy to read." the sound of the chains breaking suddenly startled everyone and they quickly backed away from the red-head… but instead of preparing for the attack, they saw that Gaara broke the chains around his one hand only so he could reach into his pants pocket and retrieve something from it…

'_Does he think those chains are just for decoration? How the heck did he break them so easily?'_

…Calmly outstretching his right arm, Gaara allowed a black string go easily pass his fingers and caught the very end of it – revealing a casual necklace with a glittering object hanging by the loose end. "Then how do you explain this?"

Tsunade gasped and grabbed hold of the necklace hanging around her neck. _'Wh…where did he get th-that?'_

"Is that the Hokage necklace?" knitting his brows, Sarutobi and the rest leered at the rare ore presented to them.

"This necklace has been given to the third Sannin known as Tsunade by the First Hokage, her grandfather," staring at the woman, Gaara told a tale which shall backend as his proof about the existence of the dimensions, "But an unknown force has set a curse on the jewelry that states that everyone with a particular dream of becoming the Hokage of the Leaf village wearing it aside from her shall die. That was the fate that followed her younger brother and boyfriend."

Seeing everyone keep quiet, Gaara continued, "…After years of mourning and wasting her time on games as the gambler, she was soon brought out of her addictions by a twelve year old boy, to whom she lost this necklace to. That was Naruto; the boy who once dreamed of becoming the Hokage of the Leaf village he now detests till the bottom of his heart. He kept this necklace as the remainder of his mistakes and who he once was.

… …At least till the part about my brother…that's how the history goes for you as well, …am I right, Tsunade-sama?"

Staring and lightly trembling under the red-head's gaze, the shocked woman hesitated before taking the offered necklace from his grasp.

'_God… it's exactly the same…'_ she gasped as she compared the jewels. "Is…is this you say… all true?" Hazel-eyes looked into his.

"Yes…"

Sarutobi also in wonder came closer to the _slug_-Sannin and looked at the two twin gems in her hands.

Staring the teen with still slightly doubtful eyes, Minato asked, his brows furrowing, "Who exactly are you?!"

Gaara looked back at the Namikaze with the same intensity as before. "In my world, I am known as Gaara of the Desert. I am a legal villager of the Sunagakure and the protector of both Leaf and Sand in the parallel universe."

"How did you get here?" Sarutobi joined in questioning.

"Naruto and I opened a portal on the accidental occasion. It wasn't our wish to be transported _here_."

'_How can all this be true? It's not humanly possible!'_ Keeping a close eye on every movement of the teen, Minato slowly circled around him. "How were you able to open a portal?"

"Our powers are beyond human understandings…, for we are not humans anymore."

Stopping by Gaara's back, Minato lightly knitted his eyes and pulled the red loose hair out of the way to reveal an interesting looking tattoo. "Shukaku…" he whispered, staring at the scarred One-Tailed demon figure on the teen's bare back.

"You're a jailer of the demon?" surprised asked Sandaime after hearing what his student mumbled.

"Merged." shortly corrected the red-head. "Naruto and I are half-breeds. Half of the blood that runs in our veins is that of a demon. … …We both were born human-sacrifices, …the vessels."

Walking over to him and fixing the necklace around his neck, Tsunade asked in a gentle tone, "Which demon was sealed into your brother?"

Gaara felt Minato slightly stiffen behind him. "Naruto is a former carrier of the Nine-Tails." _'…sealed by a man behind my back.'_

'_Kyuubi…' _Minato's felt his heart quicken as he remembered seeing the greatest among the nine demons summoned by Naruto… And the feeling of that unnatural power Naruto unleashed and controlled could not be mistaken. Naruto's chakra and aura was the same as Kyuubi's and it could not be gained unless he was the vessel of the said demon. _'So it's true then. Gaara and Naruto…they really are from-…'_ suddenly he trailed off as realization struck him, _'…!? …?! …But, then that means that…Naruto…is not…my…'_ blue eyes abruptly widened, he finally understood why Sarutobi said all those things to him previously. His features went lack and the eyes hid in the shadows of his bangs.

"Aa… that would explain his summon." nodding Sarutobi thought aback about the report he read which stated the sudden appearance of the Nine-Tailed demon. "As far as I remember no-one has ever had the ability or the power to summon the Kyuubi; for he is, or at least _was_, a free being. And if half of the blood that runs in young Naruto's system is indeed that demon's own then there is no surprise that the summon had been successful." Turning to Tsunade, Sarutobi then addressed her, "We'll need to get our hands on the boy's blood. It cannot be assured what Gaara says as truth if we don't have the samples. The same shall go for him as well."

While Sarutobi was making conclusions and talking with Tsunade, Gaara glanced pass his shoulder at the silent blond man. _'What are you thinking?'_

"Gaara…" the Hokage's call made Gaara turn his attention back to him. "Previously you said that you two are bonded to this village by a contract. But since you are from dimensionally another world doesn't it mean that the bond should have no more influence on you whatsoever?"

"We thought that too…at first. But it soon proved to us that the permanent signature can reach the highest beyond the understandable possibilities. The 'contract' was written and signed by blood and it holds us tied to the link. It doesn't matter which world or place we are in. If the names of the villages in this world are the same as the ones we are to protect in our world, then this circle shall hunt us till the rest of our lives. The vow under your own blood can never be broken." _'That's why Naruto and I will always be tools.'_

"A permanent mark…" Sandaime felt sympathetic for the boys, "I am sorry to hear this, Gaara."

The red-head just snarled and turned his eyes to the side, suddenly narrowing them…

"One more thing though." promised Sarutobi, forcing the red-head's green eyes to look his way again, "Every time I spoke with Gennou about the issues that concerned you and Naruto it always ended up in riddles…. I know that he isn't your real uncle, but either way, he still seems rather close to you two. Mind _you_ telling me how does he know so much about you, Gaara?"

"He has something that approximates us more than anyone else ever could."

"What is it?"

"We carry the same tamed blood…" turning his eyes back to the right side's dark corner he previously caught his eye on, Gaara frowned as he continued, "Isn't it right…, Vessel of the Shukaku?!"

Startled, everyone turned to the mentioned direction. Their eyes lightly widened as they spotted a figure leaning against the wall.

The figure shifted and began to slowly approach them. "When did you find out?" by the sound of it, the person seemed to be grinning.

"The word 'demon' should be more than enough answer to _you_."

"Heh…, always the clever one." Stepping into the light, the figure soon revealed old but gentle features. "I guess compared to you, Naruto is more of a brawn, whereas you seem to stand as the brain."

"Gennou," interrupted an angry voice, "Will there be a reason for me to bring you charges for breaking out of your cell?!"

"I'm sorry Namikaze-sama," scratching his neck, chuckled the old man, "I just couldn't help myself."

"You are a vessel, Gennou?" unbelieving, Sandaime butted in as he stared at the revealed man.

"I _was_." smiled the old man, "I am a half-breed, same as the boys. Only with my knowledge and experiences all these past two hundred and sixty years, I am able to change forms of my appearances."

"Two hundred and sixty??! Whenever were you planning on telling me all _that_, you _old_ stiff?" growled Sarutobi, wishing to throw something at the fool and ignoring Tsunade who tried to calm him down.

"Temper, Hiruzen. I dared not risk my skin." That statement brought Gaara aback.

"I'll shred you out of your skin right now for lying to me all these years!!"

While the two old men bickered, Minato reached out and freed Gaara completely from the shackles, leaving only seals around his arms. "Being a human sacrifice is just something people will never be able to understand unless they had experienced the exactly same thing. My guess is that was what brought you and Naruto so close to one another…. You two aren't real brothers, are you?" he asked, watching the boy lightly scratch his numb wrist.

"By human blood we aren't … but by the demons' we are." Freed from the hard cuffs, Gaara set comfortably on the floor, allowing his knees to rest. "Naruto and I met in the most unlikely of ways. That was the first time I ever faced an opponent who was stronger than me…and even stronger than 'hatred' …Which has now consumed him just like it once consumed me."

Everyone else soon went silent as they perked up on them talking.

"Is that why you went so far as to hurt him?" wondered Minato, remembering each time when Naruto was losing control of himself and Gaara intervened.

"It couldn't be repressed. This place just contains too many people who were the main cause of his suffering in our world. That's why I wanted to get him out of here before he'd go on a rampage."

That caused many to swallow their guilt.

"Do these people hold the same influences in your world as the ones here?"

"The time when he met the Third-Hokage might be an example to your answer. You're basically all the same…only chosen with different paths."

Squatting down, Minato looked the teen at eye level. "Tell me Gaara, if this world is not at all that different from yours…then would it be possible to say that Naruto is my child?"

Inwardly startled at the sudden question, Gaara blinked and looked up at the Namikaze who stared deeply into his eyes, searching for any leads that might slip.

"… …yes…" it took some time but he replied, softly yet cryptically. "Naruto was the son of the Yondaime Hokage – Minato Namikaze. …However…," not quite delighted to be the one breaking the man, Gaara's voice lowered as he continued, "…even if varieties of you and Naruto's dimensionally real father are close to none…, I am sorry but Naruto might never accept you in his life; for he despises you."

That sentence raised slight anger in the man. "Why? Why is that?"

"… …Because, theoretically speaking, you were that _main cause_ of his pain."

Tsuande, Sarutobi and Gennou turned with worried eyes to Minato.

Minato stared at Gaara, his eyes glassy and brows furrowed. "What have I done to him?" he asked, his voice almost breaking from mental fear of finding out.

"… …You sealed Kyuubi in him."

* * *

Standing out and above the Hokage-tower, Minato didn't even bother to shield himself away as he allowed the rain to pour onto him.

With half lidded eyes he stared up at the dark sky towering over the heads of the previous Hokage's. After finding out things his mind could have never imagined, he asked Sarutobi to free the boy and exited without another word. He needed some air…

"_Would you put the safety of your village above _everything_ that's important to you?__"_ a memory of his son's words abruptly ran pass. He now could understand why Naruto said all those things to him previously.

Lowering his gaze, Minato closed his eyes. _'Have I failed, Kushina? Have I failed to protect and cherish our son once more? …Even in the other world?'_ Wind gently run through his hair and brushed the wet bangs away. _'Tell me… Will he ever be able to forgive me for everything I've done?'_

"Namikaze-sama." a calm voice suddenly brought him out of his thoughts. Turning his head little to the side, he found an Anbu standing a couple of feet behind him.

"…yes?"

"The news of the eldest of brothers being released has caused men disturbance. They want to hear the truth about them and their influence towards you and the Sannin. Is there maybe something you're hiding from us?"

"Are you curious as well?" smiling slightly, Minato turned his eyes back to the mountain.

Lowering his head, the Anbu took off his mask and placed it by his hip, revealing the face of a young Uchiha. "Would it matter if I'd say yes? I do not wish to cause you distress."

"You are always so polite Itachi." chuckling, Minato shook his head. "In all those years of training and teaching you, why was it exactly _this_ point which I failed at so miserably?!" he wondered jokily before his face fell and his eyes became dim.

"Itachi…" his voice was deep, "What I'm about to tell you is something I wish to be kept only between us …at least for now."

Arching a fine brow, Itachi's curiosity deepened.

"You don't know this… but… before your father died and I became your godfather and legal caretaker under his will…, my wife Kushina was gravid."

Itachi's eyes couldn't help but widen and he stared at the man openly. "You had a child?"

Minato lowered his head down and stared at the wet floor. "I had a son…" he forced out a chuckle as a small irritating tear suddenly left his eyes, "…but I don't know if I still have him anymore?!"

"…_Naruto might never accept you in his life; he detests you…" _the red-head's sentence persistently forced itself into his head, robbing him out of every word or hope before it could come out.

"…" the young ebony-haired man couldn't find words to say. He didn't even look like he was breathing. These news startled him as well as the fact that this was the first time he ever heard and felt his godfather in so much pain.

"Please let it stay between us." Before Itachi could grasp the sentence or unleash those hundred questions in his head, Minato disappeared…

* * *

Still wet, Minato entered the Hokage office and brushed pass those small pieces of broken wood from the previously broken desk. Running his fingers through his wet hair, he slouched into the couch and buried his face in his hands. _'What am I going to do? … …I can't take this!'_

"You look like a mess," suddenly came a smooth, lightly amused voice of a tall man entering the office.

Looking pass his fingers, Minato sighed and tried his best to compose himself…but still failed in doing so. "Hello Nagato! I didn't hear you come in. When did you arrive?"

"About half an hour ago… Sorry to have barged in like that. Are you alright?" asked the darkly-orange-haired man coming to stand besides the once-was desk.

"Yea…n-no…forget it! …I'm fine," turning away, Minato looked at the window. But it was apparent enough for the newly-arrived-one that his mind was far away from that crack on the window he was so intensively staring at. "…just fine…"

"What happened to your face Minato?" cocking his head to the side, Nagato inspected a painful looking three scarred marks on the left tan cheek.

"…" that question made Minato's eyes soften and the other to blink.

"Alright, what's going on here?! And don't even think of feeding me with lies! You know that I can see through you. And I won't even bother mentioning the desk." narrowing his eyes in worry, the man named Nagato demanded an explanation to see Minato in such a troubled state.

Keeping silent for some time, the Namikaze then abruptly stood up and voiced only two empty words as he headed for the door, "…follow me."

Arching a brow, the orange-haired man silently followed.

During their whole walk down the halls, Minato didn't utter out a single word.

Just when Nagato was about to lose his patience at this unnerving atmosphere Minato came to a halt before a huge double door covered with tens of seals and many writings.

'_Where the Hell are we?'_ deciding to not voice the seemingly troubled words out loud, Nagato questioned his curious mind.

Tearing the seals blocking the gape of the door, Minato pushed the part of the heavy metal-door open and stepped in, Nagato following closely behind and into the premises.

The room was filled with fifteen Anbu, all standing besides the round room's walls; they didn't even spare a glimpse or as much as a nod's acknowledgment towards the two men as their eyes were fixed drilled upon the lying figure in the center – covered in many seal-tags around fingers, hands, legs and bare abdomen and chest. Many complicated signs were written on the floor and around the unmoving form, glowing in motion. Bandages looked burned and ripped open as many bruises and scars around the petite form were slowly healing on their own before their very eyes.

Nagato looked at Anbu, then at the figure and did a quick glimpse at Minato before looking back at the figure more carefully. It was a small boy … a teen to be exact, clad only in loose black pants; his skin seemed lightly tan; he had long loosened yellow – almost golden – hair with weird strands for red color; three deep whisker-like marks on each cheek and a strange tattoo around the waist.

"Who is that, Minato?" not the one to break the silence, quietly whispered confused yet greatly interested Nagato.

"… …my son," just as silently replied Minato and walked over to the lying teen, leaving his companion gaping,

"Wh-what?!"

* * *

_A/N_

_**è **__Thanx so much to the reviewers:_ Yoko. no. unmei, karinms, HELPtheEVILchimpsATEmySOCKS, -siarafaerie-101-miss, MadMonki, whiteinu1, EdSpikeSesshyGirl, narubby23, Kamerreon, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, salvor-chan, BrokenBloodDrops & Zotikos!

_**è **__replies to chp #16:_

_I hope that answers to some of ya questions were answered by this chp.!?_

Zotikos – XD

BrokenBloodDrops – XD ;))

salvor-chan – XD Naah… Minato is not _yet_ the Hokage, he is like an adviser or the right-hand man to Sarutobi. But as for him being called Yondaime – that was mentioned as of mockery;))

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – XD I'm going to try & start Itachi & Naruto's relationship with next chp-s. Right now it's not that easy to combine it all quickly…;))

Kamerreon – XD ;))

narubby23 – XD

EdSpikeSesshyGirl – XD ;))

whiteinu1 – XD

MadMonki – XD No, he didn't hear Minato say that Naruto is his child. And that what Gennou told Sarutobi was shortly explained and squeezed in by the time they all talked with Gaara;)

-siarafaerie-101-miss – XD ;))

HELPtheEVILchimpsATEmySOCKS – XD ;)

karinms – XD

Yoko. no. unmei – XD ;)

* * *

_The 4th of July – with Independence Day, USA!! (07.04.09') _

* * *


	18. Chapter 18

* * *

'_**Chapter 18'**_

_

* * *

_

"It's been quite a while since we last gathered all up like this." _'Not since our failure in retreating Minato's son back… …God It's been too long.'_ leaning against his seat, close between Minato and Gennou, Sarutobi eyed all the gathered familiar faces sitting distantly by the round, enlightened table in the silent, darkened room. "Unfortunately to say… but as hard times went some of our group shall not be able to accompany us with their presence anymore." Spotting an empty chair between Gennou and Tsunade, Sarutobi closed his eyes and whispered a silent prayer, _'Uchiha Fugaku. May he rest in peace!'_

"Ah… the Uchiha. Quite a stubborn man he was. I remember him well before he met Minato. It's a surprise how some people can change during their time when there is a pertinacious Namikaze nearby." Smirking at Minato, Gennou coughed as he received a glare. "'Khem'…, yeah well anyways, when did the Godaime Kazekage said will be arriving again?" he turned questionably at Sarutobi, bringing out the topic for distraction.

"Today. It should be around noon."

"The Godaime?" arching a brow in interest, Jiraiya looked at the two men sitting across from him, "What would the Kazekage need on a time like this?"

"More of a personal matter really." replied Gennou.

"It would be more than obvious on which matter it's personal." sighed Tsunade, getting some of the men in the room frown at her for apparently knowing something more than they did. "By the way, what was the name of the Fifth 'kage again?" entwining her finger together, she rested her chin on them.

"Temari, if I'm not mistaken," answered Minato.

"Aa. The eldest of the famous three Sand siblings." confirmed Sandaime, "…At least the former three." Brushing it then quickly off, Sarutobi brought out the main subject of their gathering, "Alright. Since we're all here…let us not waste anymore of the time we have and get this meeting over with."

"Does this meeting maybe has something to do with the two rogue boys the council has so kindly informed me about yesterday?" amused eyes peaked over a white fan covering the face of an old man wearing presentably white robe complimented by an honorable hat, which was graced with symbols for fire. A man over his eighties, looked curiously across the table at Sarutobi and Minato with wise, round, black eyes.

"In fact it does, my lord." incline his head in an honorable manner, Sarutobi then looked at Minato, "More so… it has something to do with one of them in particular."

"Oh? My curiosity is rising." smiled the lord of the Fire country, starting to wave his fan subconsciously. "Please, do tell!"

"It's about my son…" directly spoke Minato, effectively stopping the lord from his fan activity and making his eyes widen unbelievingly. "He's one of the boys the council has 'so kindly' informed you about."

The fan suddenly slipped from the agape lord's thin, pale fingers and fell. "…Na…Naru…to?!"

"Surprising, isn't it?" huffed Nagato, crossing his arms and leaning against the back of his chair. Meeting Minato's gaze, he smirked, "Feel glad that you didn't show him the state and place your son is in right now. The old man would have had a fit."

"Someone give him water, he's becoming purple." leaning his cheek on his knuckles, Orochimaru watched in amusement as the lord's face turned between colors.

Grabbing an offered glass from Tsunade, sitting closest to his right side, the paled lord uncharacteristically began gobbling it down.

"I guess a quick approach was a bad idea." Sniggering at the chocking lord, Nagato whispered to Minato by his side.

"I'm not the type who beats around the bush." frowned Minato in response.

"M-my God! You found him? Y…you really found him? Is Naruto alive? Is your son ok?" spluttered the shocked lord after coming to his senses.

Sarutobi lightened his pipe and looked at Minato who in turn glared at Gennou who in his part blinked. "What?"

Scowling, Minato turned his eyes on the table as he grit out, "No." That replay arouse many new confused eyes on him.

"N-…no?!" stuttered the questioning lord, feeling dizzy, "But you just said-…"

"Naruto is not dimensionally my real son."

Nagato and the two male Sannin looked at each other bemused.

"Not your…?! Wait! Did you just say-…"

"Dimensionally?!" cutting the lord off, pushed in the other three oblivious and dumbfounded men (Nagato, Jiraiya and Orochimaru). "What a Hell?! When did that happen?"

"In all the things you could joke about, Minato, this is the worst. That's not funny!" lectured the land lord, scowling at the blond after regaining his voice back.

"Does it look like I am having fun?!" slamming his palm against the table, Minato caused a grave-silence. Closing his eyes, he sank back into his chair and exhaled, composing his cool. "As unbelieving as it may still sound, even for _me_, it has been proved that Naruto and Gaara really are from another world."

"This isn't true. This can't be true." shaking his head, still in denial, the second eldest of them all turned to Sarutobi for help, "On which proof does it stand?"

"On the blood of the demon." indifferently answered Sandaime.

"Demon?" the questioning word went out in union from the two Sannin and the orange-haired male, who all sent silent glares at Tsunade for knowing something like that before them.

"Naruto and Gaara are half-breeds. These boys were vessels of the two of the nine demons in the parallel universe with whom they have merged: one being the One-Tailed demon Shukaku and the other the Nine-Tailed demon Kyuubi. Tsunade confirmed the analyses of the DNA." Tossing a medical folder in the middle of the table, Minato continued. "Demons cannot inherit a kin or breed; so them being connected to the two beasts by any chance is out of the question, unless the demons were sealed in them or dead. And as far as we all know and _recently_ found out," looking pointedly at Gennou, who averted his gaze, Minato finished the thought, "Kyuubi is still among the summons whereas Shukaku was sealed in the guts of a well known _character_ in this world." Now he was openly glaring at Gennou, which caused the others to follow his line of stare and soon all were looking at the poor builder.

"Hello!" smiling while trying not to sweat, Gennou waved them all with his hand.

"Oh don't tell me," whispered wide-eyed Nagato, staring at the old man in the same realization manner as many others.

The medic-folder nestling in the lord's hands slipped and fell. "Gennou-san was a vessel?"

Tsunade rolled her eyes and grumbling bent down to pick up the damn things that seem to just keep falling from the lord's butterfingers.

Sighing, Orochimaru ran his fingers through his long hair as everyone fell into a deep, thick silence, "There's some huge conspiracy going on around here."

"But wait, Minato," rubbing his temples, Nagato spoke up, "Then does that mean that Naruto is not your son?"

Resting his entwined finger by his lips, Minato closed his eyes. "The results have confirmed that he inherits my blood as well as the demon's till the full percentage, but… …"

Tsunade, Gennou and Sarutobi sent him sympathetic looks as he trailed off.

"He is not the one you've lost." finishing the silent man's words for him, Nagato gave Minato a sad smile.

The blond shook his head, "Even if he's from another dimension, he still bonds to me. And no matter the differences, I would still love him as my own child…, if only he would give me a chance."

"Speaking about the loss of your real child." exploring the folder he grabbed from Tsunade, Jiraiya brought out a new topic that considered Minato's son's strange disappearance, "Don't you seem to think it's a tad bit odd that that strange red _phenomena_ that engulfed him back then in the dungeons matches the dimensional Naruto's chakra?!"

The heads of the other seven presented shut up so quickly, that the necks almost snapped.

_

* * *

_

Gaara frowned as he stared at his hands – his fingers were each wrapped in seal-tags, the backhands held a tag of their own as well as the forearms and the upper-arms. Placing his fingers in the 'ne' sign he began gathering his chakra but momentarily flinched as the bones of his fingers slightly cracked, dispelling his concentration and giving him a physical warning what will happen if he'll continue.

"Hn." _'Nothing much has changed.' _Turning to look back at the lake he was sitting by on one of the large rocks closest to the deep water, he rested his hands on the bent knees and thought aback of things that had occurred…

It's been a day after the interrogation and his so called 'release'. He was allowed to walk freely around the village and stay in one of the isolated guest-houses; though as for their own safety and just to be sure that he won't run away or use any of the jutsus, they placed seal-tags on him, which will always inform them where he is and what he is doing. Unfortunately he could not remove the seals without losing his hands.

He didn't go home the previous day as they first intended him to. He stayed outside and didn't even bother to sleep. He was restless because of Naruto, whom they forbid to see right after interrogation. So now he waited, watching as the sun slowly rose up and began awakening the villagers. Gaara was thankful that he was allowed in Konoha's forest. Here, away from people and headaches, he felt at ease.

"My-my-my… just look what I found sitting all alone and abandoned." Gaara's eye gave an unwelcoming twitch as some dunce suddenly decided to ruin that heavenly peace of his.

"The elder brother of a certain yellow jewel. Well praise me ain't I lucky?!" the voice sounded like if it was coming from the lake.

Gaara blinked as he caught something move under the water before it appeared out of it. It was a familiar aqua-haired teen he once met during the battle – Suigetsu.

"Hey there!" sharply he grinned at the red-head, who arched an invisible-brow at the teen's bared body, completely visible under the crystal-clear water. _'Why on earth is he necked?'_

Seeing the other teen giving his necked body an overly look, Suigetsu's smirk went wild, "Ohh… See something you like?"

"Hn," scowling at the statement, Gaara turned his gaze elsewhere, looking bored.

Suigetsu set his mouth in an unsatisfied frown, hating to be ignored, "You sure don't talk much, do you?!" before he smirked again, "Anyways, wanna join me? The water's great! And apparently you could use a little bit of loosen up." he grinned, swimming around for emphasis.

"I'll pass." uninterested mumbled the red-head.

"You really are a spoilsport." pouting, Suigetsu dived under the water and appeared just before the rock Gaara was sitting on. "Come on!" grabbing the bent rims with his hands, he began to slowly crawl out of the water. "All you have to do is take all those bothersome clothes off ya and get in. Besides… no-one's watchin' but _me_." _'And I'll be more than happy to help you out of them.'_ Supporting himself on his hands and knees he leaned his exposed, muscular body above the, at the current moment, extremely angered red-head till he was at nose-to-nose distance with him, grinning like mad, "Just think 'bout all the nasty things we can do."

Gaara didn't bother to answer anymore or maybe play with the prey as Naruto usually does… instead he simply leashed out and punched Suigetsu square in the face, sending him far into the deep lake. Standing then up, he brushed his pants from the dirt, pulled his hands into his pockets and casually turned and walked away, ignoring the unconscious nudist somewhere in the water. It was about time to finally see Naruto anyways.

_

* * *

_

Deep red eyes of the _Sharingan_ flashed as they stared at the unconscious 'enigma' lying in the center of the seal. _'The son of the Namikaze Minato.'_ the amazed blood-red eyes lightly narrowed as they blend into the color of coal black. After the talk with his godfather, it didn't take long for the young Uchiha Itachi to realize who the heir of the Namikaze really was.

The doors of the silent room opened and in came one of the other Anbu. "Captain." he spoke loud enough for him to hear, "The Hokage-sama requires your presence in his office."

After what seemed like an eternity to the others, Itachi finally turned away from the blond boy and wordlessly headed to the exit, for some reason he did not seem pleased to them.

_

* * *

_

Walking down the long hallway while whistling merrily, Shisui blinked and arched a brow as he suddenly spotted the other Uchiha approaching him from the front.

"Hey Ita-…" waving the other in greeting, Shisui had to suppress the second urge to blink as Itachi went right on pass him without as much as an acknowledgment, nod or a murmur. "Whoa! Yo Itachi! You blind?" grabbing the other male by the elbow, Shisui almost jumped as Itachi quickly turned to him with his _Sharingan _eyes blazing and snapped,

"What?!"

Surprised by the outburst, Shisui quickly let him go. "Tch… What a Hell's with you? Something crawled in your ass and died?"

Calming himself down, Itachi let the _Sharingan _fade off, though his glare did not waver. "I don't have time for you Shisui. Speak! What do you want?"

Blinking a bit dumb, Shisui crossed his arms and huffed. "Well geez I don't know…, as much as a 'hello', 'hn' or maybe even a 'fuck you, leave me the Hell alone to rot in peace' would be more than appreciative and understandable greeting to me, thank you very much."

Crossing his own arms, Itachi glared harder before voicing out a small 'Hn'.

"…??…"

"…"

"…?!…"

"…"

"…" '_Why do I even bother?' _rolling his eyes, Shisui was about to be on his way, but both of them abruptly stilled as they felt a strong chakra signature approaching.

Not soon after, a familiar red-head turned the corner and opened his eyes just to spot two Uchihas staring back at him. Sending them a glare, he closed his eyes once more and wordlessly brushed pass, heading to the restricted area.

"What is Hokage thinking allowing to walk someone like him so freely around the halls?!" after the red-head was out of earshot, Shisui silently hissed out his displeasure and looked at Itachi for prop but frowned as he saw something flash in his eyes before fading into indifference, which made him wonder, "Is there maybe something you know, Itachi?"

Keeping his eyes on the red-head, Itachi slightly narrowed his brows before replying in empty 'no'. Turning around he began to walk away, leaving Shisui hanging in chocking confusion.

"What a Hell was that?" following Itachi with his eyes, Shisui looked back at the red-head who was almost out of sight and then back to his friend, who disappeared around the corner. "There's definitely something he knows."

_

* * *

_

Reaching the seal-room, Gaara opened his eyes once more and frowned at the huge door before him.

"Cynicism," he grumbled under his breath and placed one clawed finger in the small gap between the sealed doors before forcing it downwards and tearing apart every seal in the way. Pushing the heavy-metal open, he stepped in. The doors closed behind him with a deep, echoing sound as soon as he entered into the darkened room.

He was aware of the startled eyes of all the Anbu glaring at him but he just didn't care, all that he cared about was presented to him nine meters ahead.

Distantly he heard weapons being grasped and slid out of their sheaths. "That won't be necessary." he stated emotionally, "I have merely came to see my brother. I have no intentions on killing you…" _'…yet.'_ the last unspoken word but hanged at the tip of his tongue as Gaara advanced a bit closer to his 'brother'.

Stopping about six meters away from the blond, right by the line of the glowing seals, Gaara placed his hands into his pockets and exhaling silently. Unmoving, he carefully absorbed the still form. _'He's seriously pale.'_ lidding his lids halfway, his eyes softened as he fixed his gaze on the opened right-chest wound that looked like it's been healed only minimally, the flesh was still slightly visible. "That was never my wish to let this happen to you." scrutinizing the right, limp, swollen arm, Gaara tightly closed his eyes, talking below the whispers, "I am really sorry, Naruto."

Mindless to everyone, even Anbu whose eyes were now directly drilled on every action the red-head made, Naruto's left-hand's fingers gave a little twitch.

_

* * *

_

"Is there anything else?" asked the stoic Uchiha, his presence radiating a strangely unnerving aura for the past half-hour since he entered the Hokage office.

"That would be all. Just make sure you and your men will gather all the needed information about the Lightning's next plans. You'll leave tomorrow before dawn, which would be enough time to pack everything that is necessary for this mission."

As the Anbu captain gave a light nod, Sarutobi didn't miss a glare the young-Uchiha gave Minato before disappearing.

"What's wrong with him Minato?" turning expectedly to the blond leaning against the window, Sarutobi wanted to know why Itachi was so cold?!

"He's angry." simply answered Minato as if it wasn't obvious.

"I guessed that he is angry at you. But why?"

"He is angry at me because I did not tell him about my son sooner than necessary."

"You _told_ him about Naruto?" barked the surprised Sandaime.

"Did you expect me to lie about something as important to my own godson?" furrowing his brows, retorted Namikaze.

"Tsk… Yes!! You don't just go around throwing such importances to minors!"

"Itachi is far from that stage Sarutobi and you know it. Anyways, it's better that he hates me now than after Naruto awakens. It would be a pain to deal with them both…." Scratching his neck he then pondered out loud as a thought crossed him, "But then again that could bring them rather close since they'll have something in common." _'Like for example – hating me!!'_

"I can't believe you're even thinking about something like that. God, I ought to punch you right in th-…"

There was suddenly a knock on the door, silencing Sarutobi's never-ending lectures and perking Minato's curiosity.

"Come in!" sighing, Sandaime grumbled out the permission to enter, not delighted for being interrupted.

A brown-haired Chunin named Iruka enter the premises. Inclining his head in respect, he said, "Sir, she has arrived."

"… …Already?"

_

* * *

_

It's been nearly four hours as Gaara was still in the presence of his unconscious 'brother' …Still feeling guilty …and still praying for forgiveness…

…Until he was interrupted. "Boy," demanding attention, a male's voice called for him from the entrance of the room.

Looking barely enough pass his shoulder, he spotted Naruto's former-'teacher' Kakashi gazing at him with uncovered bored yet narrowed eyes.

"Hokage-sama awaits your presence in his office. Follow me." was all he said before turning and heading out.

Looking one more time at Naruto, Gaara closed his eyes and silently followed after the self-complacent man. _'If only Kakashi-san could see himself now.' _feeling his lips quiver, Gaara thought of an expression on his dimension's famous _Copy-Cat_.

As the doors slammed close and the seals on them were replaced once again, the Anbu silently exhaled a descent amount of air and turned back to the blond. The most part of them blinked and frowned deeply as they spotted the boy's eye abruptly give a light twitch. Firstly thinking that as of the cause of the nerve's reflexes they thought about letting it pass, but suddenly the boy's eyes knitted shut tightly and his head gave a wild trashed to the side, as if enduring a nightmare which shall soon jerk him into the bricks of reality.

"Someone inform the Hokage, immediately!" the commander of the group spoke in deep yet silent enough voice, secretly frightened if it could startle the awakening creature.

_

* * *

_

Entering the office under Kakashi's gesture, Gaara heard the door close behind him and arched an 'invisible'-brow as the usually packed place was occupied by only one person – the Hokage.

"Good-day Gaara!" greeted Sarutobi as he rose from his seat, "Glad that you were able to accompany me on such a short notice. Now if you please could follow me!? It'll just take a moment (…or maybe several hours…) of your time." walking pass his new desk, Sarutobi opened the room that was a bit to the left from the entrance and ushered him inside.

Gaara inspected the plane room, which looked more like a living-room, and kept on moving further in as Sarutobi didn't halt just there.

Stopping by the far room's wall, Sandaime abruptly tossed Gaara a key and told him to close the door behind himself under a lock, before taking out a black pen from his robe. Rising the brush to the plane white wall before him, he began to write something on it. Finishing the scripts, the old-man placed his hands together in a 'tori' sign and mumbled some sort of a spell before placing his right-palm atop the writings. The black scripts suddenly sunk into the bare wall and soon after that – a door appeared in its place.

Opening the black-wood doors, Sarutobi smiled at the slightly widened eyes of the red-head and gestured him with his hand to walk in. "If you please…"

"Hn," blinking his surprise into a frown, Gaara hesitated before entering the place that soon appeared to be a long, dark hallway. The door closed behind them and disappeared.

As the two made their way down the path, Gaara's interest slowly began to increase as he caught voices whispering behind the double door they soon (after five minutes) came before; though he could not catch even a word that's been outspoken as the sealed writings on the doors apparently blocked every single word and even a shout that flew against them.

Without knocking, Sandaima grasped the two handles that had a glowing seals around them and opened the doors wide.

Gaara blinked for the tenth time as he took in the new surroundings he had never seen before. The room was rather dark and cold (it looked more like a cave to him); the only thing it enlightened and the only thing that resembled a furniture in there was a big, round table in the centre, which was accompanied by nine participants.

Spotting the newcomers, Gennou arouse from his seat and approached them, "Ah Gaara. Pleasure to see you could join us. We're terribly sorry to take your time away from your brother's presence, but this is something that could not wait."

"What is this about, Gennou?" suspicious, Gaara asked in low monotone.

Smiling reassuringly at the teen, Gennou whispered silently, "Something that is only in your rights to know." Stepping little to the side, the old man revealed Gaara one slowly approaching person from the seat.

Gaara's eyes undoubtedly began to widen with each small, reluctant step the hesitant figure made.

'… …_those eyes…'_

"…Gaara…?! Is it… is that…really _you_?"

'…_that voice…'_ Gaara was startled. His heart was beating too loudly, blocking every other sound except for the voice he secretly yearned to hear since long. _'…that gentle voice…'_ it was too smooth… too divine to be that of a male's. It held the gentleness of a woman.

A slightly shaking hand came to settle on his cheek and he breathed, "… …Temari…"

_

* * *

_

A swirl of black raised a chilling wind in the room which was soon replaced by an appearance of one Uchiha Itachi.

"What happened?" the young Uchiha hissed, demanding explanations after hearing a loud inhuman scream through the whole Tower, which even the seal-room could not block.

Shisui soon appeared after him. Fidgeting nervously, he watched with unblinking eyes as the blond boy in the middle of the seal jerked violently. After getting a taste of the boy's power, he didn't feel so carefree with him or his brother around anymore.

"We're not sure ourselves." the commander spoke up, "As appearances tell…he's mind might be experiencing a nightmare. He is _yet_ to wake up."

Another Anbu suddenly appeared, followed by Kakashi, "Commander, the Hokage is not present in the premises."

"What??!"

"In general, he's nowhere in the Tower _or_ the Leaf village at all. I have just checked that myself." added Kakashi.

"What about the Namikaze? Has anyone seen him?"

"Negative. Namikaze-sama is absent as well."

"What a Fuck is going on here?" inwardly frustrated, groaned Shisui. "Where on earth could they be?"

Deepening his frown, Kakashi spoke up as he remembered something, "Last time I saw the Hokage, he asked me to escort the second of brothers to his office before leaving them alone."

"_He_ must have done something!" convincing, the commander hissed out reckless conclusions.

"I knew it!" barked Shisui. "You _cannot_ leave an unstable creatures walk the halls as they please if you're not going for a death wish. That Gaara kid is probably feeding from them both somewhere in the sewer right now, dam it!"

Another scream from Naruto jerked them back to focus on him. His teeth began to grit as deep dark (almost black) red chakra started to leak from underneath his body. Slowly it began to crawl over the whole seal.

"He shouldn't be able to do that." barked many of the Anbu and grasped their weapons.

Itachi's red eyes stared deeply at Naruto's trashing hand, which he spotted was trying to claw the glowing and agonizing seals underneath into cripples. _'It's not the minds visuals he's experiencing. He can feel the seal in his subconsciousness.'_ Furrowing his brows, he suddenly gave out an unreasonable order as many would conclude, "Break the seal, now!"

"Are you nuts? No! Don't you all dare do it!" yelped Shisui, looking nervously from his friend to the slowly approaching black-red chakra. "Apart from you I don't feel like dying today."

"I said: Disable it! Unless you're willing to face the consequences of it later." Itachi growled, more firmly.

The worried fifteen Anbu reluctantly put their weapons down and cut their hands, quickly they began to march through the necessary amount of hand-signs before kneeling down and placing their palms atop of the floor.

The huge seal's letters and scripts of the first two circles died down from their glow and began to crawl away from underneath the figure, though only as far as they were in no contact with the lying body.

The trashing and shaking of the boy's body slowly eased down, his breathing came back to even gasps and the threatening chakra soon disappeared from the sight.

All of the frozen seal-holding Anbu exhaled breaths they did not know they held and relieved stood back up.

Shisui looked with amazed wide-eyes at Itachi. "How did you know?"

The stoic Uchiha's red _Sharingan_ eyes loosened their glare and he smirked, "Hn"…

…Though not for long did the looks of victory in them all last…as Naruto's eyes abruptly shot open wide.

_

* * *

_

The next thing Gaara knew was that he was being nearly suffocated into the tight hold his 'sister' held on him with her hug.

"My God… it's you… it's really you." she kept repeating it over and over for her own reassurance as she breathed in the scent of her lost little brother; it was a bit tamed with aura of a demon, but still held that innocence she was familiar with.

Giving in to the tight hold, Gaara sighed and ran his fingers through her, surprisingly, loosened, long 'dirt'-blond hair. A sudden pain shot deeply in him for letting his 'sister' think that he was her real brother…. _'She has the right to know.' _he thought and, though a bit reluctantly, grasped her shoulders and pushed her gently away, ignoring her inner protests.

"Temari…, look, I… I am not-…"

He wasn't given a chance to speak further as she pulled him back into her strong arms again.

"Shh-shh-shh…. Don't! It's ok! I know the truth. They already told us everything. I just want to grasp the feeling of knowing that a part of you, maybe even if not the theoretically real one, is still with me. Don't take away my hope…, please!"

Halfway lidding his saddened eyes, Gaara tightened his hold on her as well and looked pass her shoulder as the word 'us' caught his curiosity and he looked up at his elder 'brother' Kankuro – standing not too far behind and smiling at him (as a man he held strong and did not jump the red-head into his own tight hug – smile should be enough …till Temari will finally let him go).

The corners of Gaara's eyes lightly watered and he hid his face in his 'sister's' neck, hiding his weakness and only letting Temari know of it as she felt something wet slide down her neck. Feeling and knowing well that it would anger him, just as her real brother it usually did, she didn't voice it out loud and simply held him tighter than ever.

"I won't," he said silently, fulfilling Temari's last plea.

_

* * *

_

After being reacquainted with his 'family', Gaara was pulled to sit close in between Temari and Kankuro by that round table. There he was introduced to several new people he had not seen before – Nagato and the lord of the Fire country.

The man with orange hair gave him unexplainable and unwanted chills for some reason…. He felt like he had some kind of a close but unresolved connection to _him_, which he had yet to experience in his own world but never will now. _'…I know I've seen him before.' _Shrugging the strange feeling away, Gaara focused back on the Hokage as he spoke.

"Now listen Gaara! As from this moment on, we shall expect to have nothing but discretion from you. _Everything_ that happens in this room stays in it. The same goes for Temari-sama and Kankuro-san. You two are not to voice a whisper of that what you hear, see or speak today, even if it is between yourselves." sternly warned Sarutobi before smiling lightly, "Nevertheless, I guess it's only fair to tell you that even if you tried, you physically wouldn't be able to. Because the chakra in here, which flows all around these walls, has already invaded your bodies' system and shall prevent you to voice or write that what is even regarded to the spoken subjects or this place till the rest of your lives. Now don't be alarmed! It is nothing life or skill threatening, it's just for the caution."

Temari's hold on Gaara's hand tightened as she nodded; she did not let the teen's hand go even when Kankura came 'crushing' onto Gaara next.

"We understand Hokage-sama! It shall be kept in our silence."

"Good," entwining his fingers together, Sarutobi cleared his voice better. "Now then… you all probably already guessed that this place is just something that has been kept under a top secret for more than over fourteen years that only nine members from the whole Fire country were authorized to know of (lord of the Fire country (one of the higher-ups), Sarutobi, Namikaze, the three Sannin, Nagato, Fugaku (deceased) and Gennou). Well so that you know, it's been built specifically for the occasions that required our supervisions…, which till this day forward has mainly been about Minato's son… – his life, future, safety and now the strange disappearance. And since this last issue clearly involves your brother's disappearance as well, _you two_ were summoned here…, which is why you are being asked of allegiance." he looked pointedly at Temari and Kankuro.

"So would it seem." sighed Kankuro and gave a light smile. "You can count on us!"

"I will hold you to it." smiled Sandaime.

"Well then…, since we're all now absolutely positive of our secrecy as well as the fact that Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun's families are not at all that segregated between the universes. The only thing we have left to resolve is – how, why and for what purpose did the exchange happen between the four boys!?" folding his hands together, yellow-_snake's_ eyes ran through every individual in the room before stopping directly on the red-head.

The others also looked at Gaara as if expecting all of the answers from the poor boy to come out in the open.

Frowning slightly as he usually does, Gaara looked at Orochimaru. "So far…the only thing that I can tell you is that Naruto and I were at the wrong place, at the wrong time and at the wrong decision. We learned only later what kind of consequences one must pay after using the power of a demon…, and that has caused us a trespass to the other dimension. We do not know how, why and what the purpose of all this was. All that we know was _that_ what we were told about – and that was that Naruto and I used a forbidden technique that had hit a hitch of a parallelism between the universes by the time the gates open, which happens every six-hundred-sixty-six years."

"Who told you about something as this?"

Turning his green eyes to look at Jiraiya, sitting in between the other two Sannin, Gaara wondered if they would even believe him?!

"It was Kyuubi." he replied straight.

Many eyes blinked at him incredulously. "You have had a conversation with the Nine-Tails demon?" questioned Nagato, knowing from the tales that Kyuubi first eats then asks his 'digestions' if there are any more questions. "One would only wonder how you got out alive!?"

"Well since Naruto is able to summon him, I guess as the accepted henchman to the demon it's only natural that they talk." shrugged in guesses Gennou. "Though knowing Kyuubi, it still sounds too crippled to be true. Getting a word or as much a casual conversation out of _that_ demon is the same as simply asking him to eat me and be done with it."

Gaara suppressed his chuckle. "Did you not know?" he wondered his thoughts loud, "Kyuubi is protective of Naruto. Not because of the fact that Naruto has his power, but for the fact that Naruto had _earned_ it. It's not something demons would ever do to a human."

Minato's eyes slightly flashed, but he hid them under his bangs.

"Well ain't that just interesting?" chuckled Orochimaru.

"Yes well, all this is fine, but… can someone now _please_ finally explain me how on earth could Naruto-kun and Gaara-kun's chakra be that same strange phenomena that took Minato's son and Temari-sama's brother away from this world six-years ago, if they have _apparently_ only just arrived themselves?!"

Gaara's eyes snapped wide and he looked up at the lord of the Fire country. "What?!"

**BOOOOOOOOOOOMMM!!!... **Suddenly every thought was cut short as a huge explosion erupt somewhere afar in the Tower and shook the whole place up. Many in the secret room fell to the floor from the abrupt, harsh shook and covered their heads as a few of the huge rocks from the ceilings crumbled and fell to the ground.

"What a…?!" yelled Kankuro after he doomed it save to do so, "What was that?!"

Gaara got off of Temari from the floor, whom he had quickly shielded away with his body as of the reflex from the falling rocks, and turned to look to the direction he felt the sound had came from the strongest…

"… …Naruto…" _'…he's awakened.'_

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_!!!_

_Hi! I just wanted ya to know that along with the next chp I will be changing the title of this story. Since 'How does it feel to be alive?!' is too deep with twisted under meanings, I shall replace it with 'The path one takes' I think it's more suitable and closer to the story:))_

_!!!_

_**è **__Thank you to the reviewers:_ Kisanei, Stoic-Genius, salvor-chan, cancelmyaccountplz, RabidMobRobbit, MadMonki, dark-kitsune-chan, narubby23, Kyuubi's Vixen, BrokenBloodDrops, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Twisted Vixen (a.k.a.;)) – EdSpikeSesshyGirl), Talia Gea, Hyarou, enchanted nightingale, Kamerreon, sparkling red & whiteinu1!

_**è **__replies:_

whiteinu1 – thank you!XD

sparkling red – thank you so much!XD

Kamerreon – …Me? …Psychic? … …Really?! …Cool!!;D Thank ya very much for the review!!XDD

enchanted nightingale – your welcome & thank ya as well!XD

Hyarou – XD I'll slowly but surely be getting to that;))

Talia Gea – thank you!;))

Twisted Vixen – thank ya very much!!XD & as for 'maybe' on the pairings part… … …well that is a maybe indeed…XDD  
Ok anyways, Naruto & Itachi's relationship won't start quickly…it will take some time till they will get around, because they really do hate each other;))

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – XDWell I 'might' have given Naruto a bit too much of a rough time recentlyXP, but I'll make it up for 'im… …somehow!?…;)) Umm… as for who Gaara's pair will be…well, to tell the truth, I don't know anymore…?! But as the story will go I'll come up with sth. Madara shall not be in this part of the story. & yes, the Akatsuki members will appear. Well, that sure was a lot of questions…XDD thank ya so much!!

BrokenBloodDrops – XDXDXDXDXDXD Damn right I do!!XD Thank ya very much for the review!;)) (- See!! That's not a 'XD')=D

Kyuubi's Vixen – verkligt?!XD Tack skall du ha! Though 'gravid' is also an English word (the set from 'to be gravid'):) Thank you for the review!;))

narubby23 – thanx!XD Their relationship is slowly beginning, it won't be pretty from the start, but it'll turn to be;) As for their normal times – in the nearest few years N&G won't be able to get home…:)

dark-kitsune-chan – thank you!XD Naruto & Minato will eventually come around;))

MadMonki – thanx very much!!XD You know, actually I haven't even thought about thatXP, but yeah, guess Minato is also Sasuke's guardian, though he is not his godfather. Well the Uchiha brothers' relationship will sting between jealousy. & as for Gaara… eee… later! I am having slight doubts between two of his boyfriends;))

RabidMobRabbit – thank ya!XD

cancelmyaccountplz – thank you so much!!XD

salvor-chan – thank you – thank you so very much!!;)) You're making me blush too much!XDD Oh yes…, previously I forgot to answer ya the '?' about Suigetsu as Gaara's b-friend…, well I don't know right now. I'm wavering between him & another one:)

Stoic-Genius – thank ya!;) It'll be quite difficult to get Naruto's shape back, but it'll be taken care ofXD

Kisanei – thank you!XD Heh…well yea, actually – Naruto is going to create more than just a chaos;))

* * *


	19. Chapter 19

* * *

'_**Chapter 19'**_

* * *

Shisui forced out a gasp as his back contacted harshly against the wall of some random house.

"Urgh… Goddamn it!" spitting out his own blood, he groaned and struggled back to his feet but cursed as he was blasted with yet another red-blast that, this time, forced him throughout the whole house.

"That does it!!" jumping up after regaining enough conscious, he grabbed two forearm-long swards from the sheaths tied to his thighs and charged…

Red eyes suddenly settled right on him and he gasped as red-chakra tail abruptly shot out from the ground and caught him by his ankles.

"Ahh…Fucking shit!" yelped the young-Uchiha as he was picked up high into the air before being thrown right onto the group of charging Hyuuga shinobi – crushing into them.

"Oof…"

"Watch it, Uchiha!" hissed the other three Anbu under Shisui's body.

"Shut up, _destiny_!!"

Jumping down next to the pile of groaning men, Itachi looked down to make sure his friend was ok before taking the sight up front…

Naruto's eyes clenched shut close… his left-hand's claws were tightly grip his head as dark-red chakra continued to spread all over his shaking body, making his skin burn and muscles contract as deep scars on his flesh were constantly closing and reopening themselves over and over again. His breathing was rapid… leaving small whimpers and growls form in the pit of his throat. Nine long chakra tails swirled everywhere around his petite form, blocking everything and everyone that came near him.

Standing up, Shisui sent a glare at his cool friend, "What the Hell possessed you to break the damn seal?!"

Itachi's eyes stayed indifferent as he turned them to look at him. "It's not like we had any other choice."

"What?!" getting frustrated will all the secrets, Shisui was about to yell to the world but the blond beat him to it…

Gritting his teeth, Naruto let loose a low growl as his muscles began to tear.

"I thought all the loose ends were confirmed shut. What a Hell's happening to him? He shouldn't even be able to use chakra, let alone _have_ it," feeling rather uneasy, Shisui took a few steps back.

"I don't think that's quite the case. This chakra doesn't feel like his original. It looks as if it has a mind of its own. Without the help of his arm and because of the seals covering his body, it is going out of his control. He cannot suppress it." mumbled Kakashi coming to stand besides the two Uchihas.

Itachi slowly shook his head, "That's not all…it is in some way protecting him."

Naruto's knees buckled and he crushed to the ground, grabbing his hair as hard as he could in order to try and dim the pain away, his right hand staying limp and numb by his side. _'…tch… …the seal-…!!…'_ Gasping, Naruto abruptly let out a loud piercing scream, scaring everyone who heard it…

Wincing at the teen's loud shrill, the unnerved shinobi around tightened their hold on the weapons. Unable to stand the anxiety for long, one of them abruptly yelled out, "This is insane! Let's just end it, now!!" and charged with the rest screaming and charging as well on instinct…

'_Shit.' _"Don't!" yelled Itachi but none heard as they were all deafened by the screams.

… Suddenly something jerked in Naruto's system, which crushed everyone's plans into the instincts of survival… – His eyes shot open wide and he arched, letting out another loud scream as his chakra-tails abruptly began surrounding him in a tight ball before exploding from his body and covering the center of the whole Konoha in a bright red light of destruction.

"Oh Crap!"

"Get A Hell Out Of Here!!"

**Booo****oooooooooooooooM..!! **The blast whipped out every house in its wake, arousing huge dust and small rocks to the air that crumbled and burned under the pressure of the explosion…

* * *

Landing to his feet, Kakashi covered his face from the still floating smoke and quickly surveyed the mile long clearing area for the injured. "Is everyone alright?!" he yelled, relieved that everyone seemed fine and alive, save some quite serious bruises and unconscious bodies.

Coughs followed as smoke slowly began to fade away, revealing many groaning and struggling shinobi crawling from underneath the demolished buildings or mountains of small rocks.

"Th-that boy is going to get a piece of my mind once I get my hands on him." roared one angry Shisui as he crawled from underneath the rocks.

Appearing back into the demolished clearing, Itachi narrowed his eyes as he absorbed the black layout of a certain figure visible behind the disappearing smoke.

Struggling to stand up on his shaking legs, Naruto wobbled a bit till he gained his footage. Coughing lightly, he brought his trembling hand onto his body and let out a small chuckle of satisfaction as he felt no more seals around him, thus answering the _leaf_-nins' question about the missing aggressive red-chakra barrier that was nowhere near the boy anymore.

'_Hn…just as I thought.'_ "That blast destroyed the seals," silently said Itachi, glaring at the satisfied looking creature.

"It must have been that what jerked that chakra's reaction from the beginning." loudly thought the grey-haired Anbu, standing beside the Uchiha.

The blond sniggered, "Heh… W-what was your f-first clue?" he said, his voice breaking slightly because of the pain that had yet to dim away.

"Devastation." abruptly said an empty voice behind him.

Naruto's smirk abruptly fell and his brows knitted together… His teeth began to grit as the familiarity of the scent quickly caught to him.

Turning his trembling body around, Naruto snarled at the only person who would dare and come this close to him in his current condition. "…_Pest_."

The sudden appearance of the elder of 'brothers' was but a small startle to that what everyone expressed once the recently 'missing' faces of the Hokage and Namikaze along with the Sannin and other unexpected newcomers showed up.

'_Ain't that just typical?! While we are tearing our flesh and bones against the cursed unstable creature, the old geezers were probably enjoying the view with some tea from the __far distance till the boredom!' _gritting his teeth, Shisui crossed his arms and glared at his superiors' backs. "Where the Heck have you all been?!"

"What?!" snapped Naruto, Gaara's silence quickly getting on his nerves. "Are you just gonna stand there and stare all day?! …Or maybe you're just thinking of the next best way on making my life a living Pandemonium _again_?"

Gaara's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Do not accuse me on such a level. You brought this down on yourself, brother…"

"Don't you _dare_ call me that after everything you've done…" retorted the blond.

"I've warned you about the consequences of your foolish decisions!"

"You stabbed me, Gaara… You _stabbed_ me!!" shouted Naruto.

"You _knew_ it would come to this, Naruto… You crossed the line! You should have _listened_!!"

"No!! _You_ should have listened!! I've told you from the _very beginning_ what will happen if I were to ever come back to this place."

"What is it that you fear so much?" quickly changing the topic, Gaara cut in. "What has happened to you? What are you running away from?"

"Tch…I don't _need_ to run away from anything…, because everything is already running in fear away from _me_!" hissed the younger-one before he disappeared from his spot, resulting a loud gasps from the others.

Gaara blinked startled as the blond suddenly appeared behind him; Naruto's back pressed to his own. "Don't think I need you to strip me from my chakra to beat you, Gaara. Stamina will do just fine."

'_Shit…' _mentally cursed Gaara as he was knocked out.

Catching his 'brother' before he fell, Naruto lowered him gently to the ground and whispered silently, "…I'll see ya later." Sending then a glare at the bemused shinobi, he closed his eyes and disappeared from the sight again.

"Good God, not again!" moaned many tired and irritated shinobi.

"…Find him!!" finally yelled Sarutobi after waking up from his own shock, whereas Temari and Kankuro quickly left his side and rushed to their unconscious 'brother's'.

Turning off his radio speaker, Minato looked pointedly at Kakashi and said, "Take the West."

The grey-haired Anbu gave a quick nod before disappearing along with Itachi.

"I'm going to demand a raise after all this is over," grumbled Shisui as he passed Minato along with the other Anbu, ready to take off and search the East direction.

Shaking his head, Minato was about to be off himself but abruptly he blinked and looked over his shoulder, feeling someone's eyes on him…. Frowning at the dark corner by the half of the Hokage-Tower, surprisingly still standing, he reluctantly turned away from the empty space and disappeared from the sight.

* * *

Not that far… hidden by the shadows of the Tower, Danzo watched the whole scene with narrowed eye. "Fu, Torune… you know what to do." he said to the two of the white dressed Root members standing behind him.

Without as much as a nod they disappeared just as Danzo sank back into the shadows with one last glance at the Namikaze.

* * *

Flinching at each sharp movement he took, Naruto's ignorance kept forcing him through the deep forest. His eyes hurt… his breath was rapid… his muscles hurt… he didn't know how much longer he would last like this, but determined to get as far away from _that_ place as possible was more overwhelming than any pain trying to hold him off.

"Ah…" tripping abruptly over the slanting hill he did not sense sooner, Naruto went tumbling down till he crushed to the ground with the unhidden scream.

"Fucking dam it!" Scratching the dirty ground with his safe hand, Naruto pushed his protesting body to stand. It's been too long since he last experienced so much pain and exhaustion at one strike…

Tightening his hold on his right arm, which did not feel like a part of the body anymore, he ordered his feet to move again. His sharp sense was the only thing that was left that could keep him defensive…

…still, with his current state they were of no major use, except only for the awareness…

Gasping, Naruto quickly turned around and awkwardly wobbled to the side as he barely missed a kunai that came after him and scratched right pass his neck, nearly embedding into it.

Two white clad Root members suddenly appeared on a tree branch, standing a few meters away.

"He's weak. This is going to be easier than I thought." said one of the Anbu; the previously thrown kunai, which could be easily dodged by a small child, was enough proof to that sentence.

"Make it quick." emotionlessly mumbled the second Anbu. "Just make sure no sound comes out. We don't need witnesses."

"Aa…" nodded the first and grabbed two kunais – jumping from the tree he momentarily charged at the blond…

'_Shit!' _Narrowing his wet eyes, Naruto clenched his hurting left fist and braced himself for the impact that was to come…,

…but before the Anbu could come within two meters from him, Naruto heard a sudden forced out gasp from the Anbu followed by a harsh collision against the tree that broke into pieces…

"GHAah…" 'BooooM!'

…As the tree fell hard to the ground and the other shocked Root member yelled his partner's name out, Naruto gasped as only then did he sensed a breathing energy from a large body coming from a person standing in front of him…

"Hn," the harsh sound of the man's grumble sent tiny shivers down Naruto's spine as he instantly recognized whom those deep characteristics belonged to.

'_Why is _he_ here?!' _Taking silent steps backwards, while the man seemed preoccupied, Naruto tried to sneak away but his back abruptly collided with another strong body behind him. Freezing still, Naruto felt himself pale, feeling another familiar scent he all too well distinguished.

"Going somewhere?" amused, the man asked; his voice full of arrogance and pride.

"Don't take your eyes off him, Hidan!" ordered the larger male. "…I'm going to take care of these two." he said while keeping his eyes close on the two fidgeting Anbu.

"Tch…whatever," mumbled Hidan and grabbed a long three-blade scythe from his back, slamming its handle between Naruto's legs and keeping him trapped in-between himself and three sharp blades.

'_Wha-what a Hell…?! What do they need with me? Did I already become a bounty?!' _inwardly panicked Naruto, all the way cursing his body for being so weak at such a time.

"Make sure you tear the limbs," devilishly grinned the tall silver-haired male.

"I intent to," grumbled the other before he disappeared from the view…

All Naruto heard for the next 30seconds were loud blasts, shouts and cracks of the bones followed by two falls of heavy bodies right besides his and Hidan's feet.

'_Oh God.' _Inwardly Naruto's mind was going through restless predictions about that what kind of things they are going to do to him now.

"Hm…too easy," mumbled unimpressed Hidan while the other male walked towards him.

"Danzo's pets. Nothing of a worthy challenge," dismissingly he said while glancing down at Naruto, narrowing his eyes at the boy's accursed orbs, before saying, "Let's go."

Feeling Hidan begin to jerk him by the elbow, Naruto wriggled away. "Wha…what do you need from me?!"

"You are coming with us."

"To where?" growled Naruto, shooting his head up to look at the direction of the stronger man's voice.

"Ah…Konoha of course." replied Hidan. "Now, come here." Grabbing gapping Naruto by his left wrist, Hidan yanked him up and tossed him over his shoulder; turning then to the man, whose whole face was covered by a dark mask, he smirked, "Alright…let's go, Kakuzu."

"Aa…" mumbled the man called Kakuzu and both headed to the direction of the village.

"What?! NO!! Grr…I am NOT going back _there_!" suddenly growled the squirming blond and kicked Hidan hard in between his legs.

"_AAAHhh…Fucking_ Brat!!" losing part of his voice, the silver-haired dropped to his knees.

Scrambling quickly out of the other's hold, Naruto began running away, but Kakuzu quickly appeared in his way and caught him by his throat.

"Ngh…l-let…go!!" gasping under the tight pressure, Naruto gripped the hand chocking him with his left one and pulling himself up he swung his foot forward – punching the large male viciously into the face.

"GHrh…" dropping the shrewd midget down, surprised Kakuzu growled as the damn brat broke his nose and made his eye sore.

"You're not getting away that easy!" yelled still struggling Hidan after the little runaway and tossed a long stretchable wire of his scythe after him, successfully entwining his ankles together and tripping him over.

"Urgh…" falling onto his stomach, Naruto clawed at the ground as Hidan began pulling the wire back in.

Despite the still agonizing pain in his lower region, Hidan turned to look at his friend and couldn't help but burst into chuckles, "Dude…, you suck. How the fuck did you get manhandled by a mere brat?"

"Shut up, Hidan!" growled Kakuzu, finally fixing his nose back in place. "I could say the same to you."

"No!! Le' me go!!" roared Naruto, clawing uselessly at the wire around his ankles with his only functioning hand.

"Ah-ah… ain't you a handful, you _sweet thing_." watching in amusement as the boy hissed at him, Hidan reached forward to pick him up but abruptly stopped as a sudden happy voice jumped from the trees…

"A-haaa…I finally found you!!" yelled a hyper-looking brow-haired young man who was soon accompanied by four more figures that appeared next to him.

Blinking widely at the new arriving aura radiating from the rest of the gang he could not forget all that easily, Naruto deliberately slammed his head against the ground – wishing it would get him back into consciousness which he swore he was not in right now. _'GOD!! This is a fucking bullshit!!' _mentally he yelled.

"Did you catch the target?" bored brown eyes of the short red-headed young-man looked questionably at the 'suicidal' duo.

"Pft… And you have to ask?" smugly smirked Hidan averting his eyes down on the twitching blond before bending down and grabbing his both wrists – pulling the teen up.

"Oh of course not…" sarcastically said one of the five newcomers, "I have no doubt that catching a mere brat is the most difficult challenge of the-…" looking from the scowling silver-haired and onto the small blond, the speaker abruptly stilled as if struck and blinked three or five times before his one visible eye went wide…

Sensing a certain character finally recognize him, Naruto groaned and wished he could slam his head against the ground again. _'Oh my God…'_

"OH MY GOD!!" suddenly yelled the high-ponytailed blond besides the rest of the newcomers, pointing out a finger at the smaller blond, "It's YOU!!"

A tall blue-skinned man by his side looked between the two blonds and his own eyes soon went wide just as the brow-haired hyper one's did.

The only thing the rest of them did was arch a brow, understanding none of what was happening…till the sound of a 'thud' was heard and Hidan blinked at the fainted brow-haired on the ground. "'The fuck is going on here!?"

"Do you know him, Deidara?" frowning, also interested, asked the red-head.

The blue-skinned male suddenly burst laughing, "Well 'know' is not the _precise_ keyword."

"Shut up, Kisame!" tearing his wide eye from the teen, Deidara punched Kisame into the face. "He…he just…" looking back at the smaller blond, Deidara's visible eye 'uncontrollably' travelled lower the teen's bare chest and he spluttered, grabbing his nose and turning away, "Oh Fucking Hell!"

"Deidara you stupid brat, answer me and stop drooling damn it!"

"I can't!!"

"You're all fucking perverts…" mumbled a green plant-like-creature/man behind them all.

"Go fuck a plant, Zetsu! You weren't _there_ that time!!" roared Deidara.

"What'd you say?!!" hissed a darker voice coming from Zetsu's black side.

Kisame was practically rolling on the ground with laughter…

Hidan and Kakuzu looked at each other as if debating the title of 'idiots'…

…While the red-head tried to restrain a persistent twitch in the eye at this ridiculous bazaar that spread out, till he finally snapped… "Shut the fuck up! All of you!! Now tell me who the Hell is this, that even the stupid Tobi appears to know!?" he yelled, nodding at the fainted Tobi on the ground.

Deidara glared at him over his shoulder, still trying to get himself under 'nose-bleeding' control. "Think Sea-club of Azan's," he hissed the source which made everything clear.

Hidan's eyes soon flew wide, as did the rest, and he dropped poor Naruto on the ground as his arms went limp. "No fucking way…"

'_Hrrm… Fucking idiots…' _mentally growled Naruto and tried to crawl away but the wire around him tightened and he was quickly jerked back to now smirking Hidan's feet.

"Oi-oi… Where are you rushing off to so fast? …And after such a long time without as much as performing another dance for old time's sake?!"

Snapping at that sentence, Naruto suddenly growled and broke the wire with his bare hand…

"What a…?!" startled, Hidan blinked his eyes wide as the now free blond suddenly jumped onto his chest; and as he balanced himself with his left-leg, he swung his right foot out and kicked the silver-haired hard into the chin…

"Oofff…"

…As Hidan fell onto his back with a grunt, Naruto flipped back to his feet and jumped into the air, in hopes to escape but winced as his ankle was suddenly grabbed by a strange tendril-attached-hand that pulled him roughly back down…

"Ngh…" hissing at his sore body which contracted harshly with the ground, Naruto's eyes flew wide as he felt himself being picked up by his ankle once again. "Oh…shit…"

…Kakuzu straightened up and with a low growled he swung his tendril-attached-hand around and threw Naruto like a rock into a high tree.

Quickly grabbing a nail-tight hold onto the tree, Naruto breathed a sigh of relieve as he secured himself from a long fall down, however…

"Time to go down." Jerking his head up, Naruto cursed as grinning Hidan came to sight "Haa!" and jammed him into his chest, forcing him down.

Frowning, Naruto reacted quickly and grabbed a fistful of the silver-hair's long, black cloak…, "Then come with me!" …he yelled and pulled startled Hidan down with himself.

"What?! Ah…Fuck!!" cursed the elder male as he was forced to go down with the boy…

…but then the said boy suddenly grabbed him by the collar and with a harsh swung he changed their positions so that Hidan was falling back down first with him following, however that was not the real intension…

"Don't you dare!" reading the boy's mind, Hidan hissed at him, but all he received was a wide smirk and a foot's kick to the stomach, which pressured Hidan's fall downwards while Naruto used that kick as a foothold and jumped upwards.

"Aah…that little atheist is so dead!" growled Hidan before crushing hard against the ground.

Jumping onto a branch, Naruto quickly fled off it as different blasts of fire/water/wind were shot after him…

…Landing with a stumble to the ground, he quickly darted off…

"Crap! Get him!!"

"Wake the fuck up, Deidara." smacking the drooling blond on the head, the red-head followed after the rest.

Blinking, Deidara flushed and quickly whipped off his mouth, following the red-head with a glare. "Hmph."

"Ahh…my head…" Rubbing his scalp, Tobi finally sat up and looked around the now empty forest, "…?!…?!…Where the Hell am I?"

* * *

Jumping down from the trees, Itachi and Kakashi looked up and frowned at two spotted dead bodies lying in the middle of the demolished area.

"Root…" identified the ebony-haired Anbu after rolling one of the dead bodies onto its back with his foot in order to see the face.

"Should have known Danzo would send them." thought Kakashi.

"Yo! Took ya long enough…" suddenly said a man appearing behind the other two.

Quickly turning around, the two nins relaxed and lowered their katanas at the presence of the brow-haired grinning male.

"Obito," greeted Kakashi, "It's been awhile."

Inclining his head in acknowledgment, Itachi asked promptly, "Where's the target?"

"Well ain't you just as straight forward as you ever were, 'ey Itachi?!" pouted Obito (a.k.a. – Tobi) before scratching his neck and then looking away sheepishly, "…Ah – I don't know."

"What?!" hissed Kakashi.

"Whaaat??! I passed out just as we had him. And when I woke up, they were all gone."

"Are you saying that you fainted for no particular reason again?"

"Yes! …?!…?!…I mean 'No'!! I did not faint, dam it!! I passed out. There's a major difference."

"What kind of difference?"

Itachi rolled his eyes as the two began their childish argue and looked around, trying to find something that would lead them to the boy.

A sudden echo of something similar to a scream jerked them from their thoughts and they all looked up… something in that scream sounded familiar…

"I hope your friends didn't bring any of their hazardous weapons with them." thoughtfully said Kakashi.

"Why? Is there a problem with it?" blinked Obito.

"Nothing much… just that this boy has a strange tendency to steal certain things which can latter…"

**BOOOOOM!!! **A sudden explosion two miles from them was all the answer that was needed, which was followed by a loud piercing curse echoing through the whole forest…

"AAAAARRRGHHhh!! I'M GONNA KILL HIM!!"

"Maa… Never mind." shaking his head, Kakashi urged the wide-eyed Obito to move.

* * *

Crushing hard against the tree bole, Naruto hissed and rubbed his head. "Geez…What a Heck?! All _this_ just because I stuffed that weird clay thing under your shirt-…GHAa!" startled he quickly slid to the ground as a scythe was thrown at him and nearly beheaded him. _'Ok-aaaay… so maybe I _did_ mix them with pants. But I can't see straight darn it!'_

"I'm gonna slaughter you, you incarnation of the fucking devil!!" growled the fuming Hidan in a strangely struggling voice, trying hard to ignore the fact that his pants were torn to shreds and he could barely stand the agonizing ache which his lower region had to suffer once again…

"Well excuse meee!!" hissed Naruto, having a hard time himself to stand up, "But the last time I checked, that clay wasn't supposed to explode without the will of its detonator executing it first."

Hidan blinked for a few seconds before a twitch and a vein popped in his head and he spun around to glare at the other blond. "DEIDARAAA!!"

'_Oh shit…' _the smirk on Deidara's face quickly disappeared and he began waving his hands overdramatically, "Whaa?! That's a lie! I did no such thing! That bomb was supposed to go off with a bang on its own, hmm!"

"YOU FUCKER, YOU ARE SO DEAD!!"

"Sasori, help me!!"

"Don't even count on it." retorted the annoyed looking red-head.

"Oh come on!!"

"Shut the Hell up, you're giving me a headache!"

"I can't believe we are known as the most fearsome hunters in the world," mumbled the white side of the Zetsu to his other as the 'idiots' began to argue again.

"Whatever… Get the boy. He's escaping again." grumbled the dark side.

Turning around, Zetsu frowned at the sneaky teen and sank into the ground.

Glaring Kakuzu also caught Naruto making his escaping and started to follow, "Little worm."

* * *

"No reason to fear – Tobi is finally here!" jumping into the clearing with two more figures jumping after him, Tobi's grin quickly turned into confusion as he stared at the two standing twitching figures glaring at the other two which appeared to be running around in circles.

"Huh? What's going on?"

Sasori looked over to the newcomers and shrugged, "Hidan is trying to kill Deidara. My guess is thirty seconds till he'll succeed."

Kisame also looked over his shoulder and nodded towards Itachi, "Uchiha…long time no see."

Turning his glaring red eyes from the two running fools, Itachi looked as if he's about to lose it. "Where is the boy?" he hissed through his teeth.

Finally stopping his chasing after sprinting Deidara, Hidan rested his hands on his bent knees and gasped for air, "What?! He's gone _again_?!"

Sasori and Kisame slowly looked at each other before turning to look around to find the boy indeed gone. "… … …?!?…"

Closing his eyes, Itachi rubbed the pulsing veins on his temples and took a deep breath. _'Calm yourself. They are just idiots; there is no reason to kill them.'_

"Heh-heh… What, tiered already?" grinning at exhausted Hidan, Deidara stopped besides glaring Sasori who then punched him on the head.

"Ooww!! What the fuck?!"

"Because of your damn stupidity I let the target slip right from under my nose!!"

"And how is that _my_ fault?! …Wait! …What do you mean the target slipped? You mean he's gone?!"

Itachi's mentality snapped, _'Forget it! I'm killing them right now!'_

**BooooooooooooM!!… **An enormous explosion suddenly erupted a mile from them, getting everyone's attention…

Hidan's mouth formed into a smirk. "Hmm…Kakuzu must be having fun. Better go join." he said and disappeared with the rest from the sight.

* * *

"Ahh…Crud…" groaning in pain, Naruto crawled from underneath a pile of trees and slumped onto his stomach, breathing hard. "Barely made it…" he sighed, remembering how Kakuzu blasted the whole area around him and including him with all possible elements his body contained; luckily Naruto managed to slip into the formed gap between the fallen trees which blocked the other falling ones from crushing onto him.

He was soon jerked back to reality when he felt many small weeds came from the earth's surface and began entwining around his right arm. "Oh shit…no!" Clawing and ripping off the persistent plants, he jumped to his bare feet but gasped and crushed back down as he felt his ankle sprain. "Fucking dam it!"

Gasping at the knocked out air, Naruto winced as the weeds quickly tied his wrists and legs together, preventing him from complete movement. Getting nowhere far with his struggle, Naruto slumped to the ground as he felt no more strength to fight back, _'Ah shit, forget it!'_

Distantly he heard calm footsteps approaching till they stopped inches away from his head.

"He could have become a great bounty one day, weren't we acquaintances of the Namikaze." grumbled Kakuzu, unleashing black tendrils from the stitches on his right-arm.

"That he could…" agreed Zetsu, appearing from the ground next him.

"Hn," outstretching his right arm, Kakuzu shot out the tendrils to grab the boy…

…but there was suddenly a snapping sound of weeds being cut and the boy suddenly disappeared from their sight.

"What?!" Kakuzu gasped and quickly turned around, coming face to face with the previously lost blond who abruptly appeared behind him and was already reaching the final few inches from thrusting his claws into the man's heart…

"Shit! When did he-…?"

…but suddenly something wrapped in-between them and forcefully pushed them away from each other…

Landing gracefully onto his feet, confused and very angry Kakuzu looked up sharply and arched a brow at the scene unfolding…

"GHAaaa…" crushing onto the ground, Naruto hissed and tried to stand back up, but his shaking hand couldn't hold him up anymore… It already took too much willpower from him to escape and at least try and kill Kakuzu which he was denied off again…_'Fuck!'_

"For a person who was always looking for peace, I can't believe what became of you." suddenly spoke an emotionless voice.

Spitting his own blood out, Naruto's lips formed a weak smirk. "Why else do you think everyone calls me number one in surprising people?"

"… …You've sunk low, brother." hissed the red-headed teen towering over the blond.

"Tch… Dig yourself a hole and die, Gaara," turning onto his elbow, Naruto barred his fangs as he struggled to push his body up. "I don't need you… I don't need anybody…"

"You left me with no choice, Naruto. I never wanted it to happen this way."

"Yeah well screw it then. I never even wanted to _be_ here, Gaara!"

Frowning, Gaara grabbed Naruto by his upper left-arm and jerked him up.

Hissing at the pain, Naruto leaned onto one leg as he was crushed against the red-head's chest.

"Look, I am sorry…!" silently spoke the red-head making the blond still for a moment, "I am sorry for everything that I've made you go through. …I apologies for forcing you into all this mess and made you feel like your life is nothing but a manipulation. …I apologies for the pain, for the lies and the breach of our trust. …However…" Gaara's eyes narrowed as he continued, "…I _won't_ apologies for making this all a reality."

"…you fucking pest…, don't touch me!…" Knitting his brows, Naruto began to struggle against the red-head's grip but that only caused him more pain as Gaara began digging his nails into his upper arms.

"I don't want you to run away, Naruto. Can't you see?! I want you to stand high and keep going, like you always did. I want you to leave the past behind… …just leave it…" Gaara's eyelids lowered as the blond stilled and clenched his hand into a fist.

"What has happened to you?" digging his nails deeper into the flesh, Gaara hissed, "Why are you embracing 'hatred'?"

'_Because I don't know what else there is that I can hold on to…'_ Shaking his head, Naruto closed his eyes. "How can I not if the whole world is always against me? …" he whispered quietly.

"You can, because you are strong. You believe in yourself… You make people doubt you wrong…" Resting his forehead between Naruto's shoulder blades, Gaara whispered, "And you always see it through the end no matter what…."

Lowering his eyes, Naruto blinked as Gaara took his left hand and placed something in it. Touching his neck, Naruto finally noticed the missing gem from it which now rested in his palm.

"…please just forget the past…" silently said Gaara, watching Naruto finger the gem.

Closing his eyes, Naruto clenched the gem into his fist and swallowed. He left no words spoken, knowing that Gaara would understand the rest in silence, and silently placed the gem into his pocket instead of around his neck…

Exhaling a good amount of held breath, Gaara closed his eyes as he thought, _'It's going to take a long time until he will finally _begin_ to heal to the changes. Right now he only accepted the fact that there is no point in fighting back in his current condition… …at least not until he will get his powers back.'_

"Hm…" Allowing a small smirk spread across his features, Naruto then said to the red-head, "To be honest…I didn't plan on you to come back to consciousness so quickly. How did you manage that?"

Arching an 'invisible'-brow, Gaara gave his own smirk, "It'll have to require a lot more from you to actually beat me, little brother."

"Hmph!" huffing, Naruto shot his nose up. "This whole 'brotherly forgiveness and understanding' thing is getting too soft on the nerves. I can't believe one minute we are on each other's throats and the next we can be like me and my ramen."

Gaara looked at Naruto with a scrunched nose, "This whole ramen obsession of yours is driving me nuts."

"Deal with it."

Just then, seven more figures appeared into the demolished clearing by the still confused Kakuzu and Zetsu.

"Ohh… there's another one?" loudly yelled Tobi, pointing his gloved finger on Gaara.

Deidara scowled as the familiar red-head greeted him with a glare again, _'Ok, what a Hell?!'_

Kakashi and Itachi both frowned as they momentarily spotted him without any signs of seals on his body. _'How did he escape?'_

"Do not approach the red-headed boy." quickly warned Kakashi to the others, "Right at this moment he is the most dangerous thing in here."

"I'm _sure_ he is…" sarcastically grumbled Hidan, silently still groaning at his aching…parts.

"Asides from the red-head, the youngest of them has lost his control over his own chakra and stands on nothing more but a miniature source of his physical strength." the grey-haired Anbu elaborated, thinking that if they have already tasted the blond's power then there's no reason to tell them the strength of the red-head, who on his part has both – the physical strength and the chakra.

"Heh…you're joking right?" sniggered disbelieving Hidan until he snapped as the only answer he received was silence, "ARE YOU TELLING ME I GO MY ASS WHIPPED BY A CIVILIAN!?"

Kakuzu's eye began to twitch at Kakashi's words. _'Definitely a great bounty. If he is strong even at such a condition without a single drop of chakra, what would become of him if it was there to the full force?'_

"Well why didn't you restrain him by the time you had him captured?" asked frowning Sasori.

"We did." hissed Kakashi. "He must have used the same method as the other one and escaped."

"No…" emotionlessly answered Gaara, hearing everything they were saying. "I am merely here to retreat my brother under the orders of the Namikaze."

Silence enfolded them all…including Naruto who couldn't stop blinking.

"Ok, what was that?" asked Tobi/Obito, believing that he overheard that.

"Call it change of plans. Namikaze-sama has disposed me from the seals and gave me full order to defend the subject if the necessity comes."

This gave Itachi hard time not to yell.

'_Well ain't that just niiiccce?!'_ "Whenever did you become so close to the Namikaze-_sama_, dearest brother of mine?" hissed Naruto at his 'brother'.

"Don't start." warned Gaara.

A few birds chirped and flew pass them, successfully resulting an annoyed twitch from most of the glaring, angry men and Naruto.

"Sssooo, Gaara…" forcing a twitching grin onto his face, Naruto asked "…since you're in such a…–…how to say…–…_close relation_ with the _destined_ head of the village, …may I _please_ have the privilege of slaughtering them now?"

"No, you idiot." _'Not like you even could.'_

"Well I did say 'pleassse'. What more do you need?"

"Don't freak out." suddenly warned Gaara, trying to restrain a forming twitch in his own eye.

"Why?"

"They aren't our enemies here, Naruto…"

"And how does that change the fact from killing them?"

"…They're the _allies_ of Konoha."

"…"

"…"

"…?!…?!… Bwahahahahahaha…Good one!" whipping away his laugher and taking that as a cruel joke, Naruto re-asked. "Ok, I'll buy. …but seriously."

"…" instead of answering, Gaara closed his eyes as one of them began to twitch harder.

"…"

"…"

"…?!…"

"…"

"…???…"

"…"

'_Oh Christ you fucking dipshit!!'_ Naruto finally caught on. "AARRRGHhhh…I hate this place!!"

* * *

_A/N_

_**è **__Thank ya so much for the reviews:_ Yoko. no. unmei, -siarafaerie-101-miss, narubby23, MadMonki, Lemrinth, ElementalFoxGoddess, Stoic-Genius, Anave Lipad, PirateCaptainBo, Conflicted Soul (a.k.a.;)) – salvor-chan), BrokenBloodDrops, Whiteinu1, Twisted Vixen, dark-kitsune-chan, Hyarou, Kamerreon, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Kisanei & mihel asyki akatsuki schizo!

_**è **__replies:_

mihel asyki akatsuki schizo – thank ya!!XD

Kisanei – thank ya very much!;)) Yea, Naruto will see again & you can say that both 'brothers' are half-demons;)) …& as for the Kyuubi…–…hold that thoughtXD

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – I am, aren't I?!;)) But damn, do I really raise so many questions?! Ok: So let's start with Shizune – …umm…Shizune is somewhere there in this storyXD, but I don't know quite where yet?! I'll have to think what to do with her later. Naruto's friends along with Hinata will appear in a latter encounter; Shikamaru and Temari won't be a pair; and as for Sakura – I don't know what to make off her. For a moment I didn't even plan to put her in here at all…, but I do have some unresolved ideas. Anyways, the explosion was not quite because of Kyuubi but his chakra in Naruto (mostly it's all in this chp.); And as to Itachi – for now he's angry because you're impatientXDD …Ok-okay, right now he's just mad on Minato and everything that connects to Naruto…or sth close to that!?XD Thank ya so much for the review!!XD

Kamerreon – thank ya so very much!!XDD

Hyarou – Yeah well… that was probably awkwardXD

dark-kitsune-chan – thank ya!!XD Itachi and Naruto's relationship will have its drawbacks in the beginning, but they'll come around;))

Twisted Vixen – Yea, you did a pretty confusing thing there by changing ya name;)) But it suits goodXD Many-many thanx to ya for the review!XDD

Whiteinu1 – thank ya!!XD

BrokenBloodDrops – Whee!!XDD

Conflicted Soul – Whoa! Too far forward with the kissing part back thereXD It ain't gonna be that fast but it shall happen;)) Anyways thank ya so much for the review & stop making me blush so much!!XDD

PirateCaptainBo – thank ya very much!!XDD

Anave Lipad – thank ya very much!!XDD

Stoic-Genius – I am beginning to consider pairing Gaara up with Shisui…just do not know quite yet;)) Thank ya for the review!!XD

ElementalFoxGoddess – thank ya so much!!XD

Lemrinth – thank ya!XD

MadMonki – right now Sasuke ain't that important, but he is Minato's charge as well, Naruto just has yet to find that outXD Thank ya so much for the review!!XD

narubby23 – thank ya so much!!XD

-siarafaerie-101-miss – 2x as Many-many thanx to ya!!XD & no, I haven't stopped this story:) …there was just no time to do it…;))

Yoko. no. unmei – Yo!;)) Thank ya very much!!XD


	20. Chapter 20

'_**Chapter 20'**_

* * *

Deep smell of thick smoke was filling the air as he approached closer to the village…. Everything seemed destroyed… something that gave Naruto a great sense of pride, yet at the same time an uneasy feeling of something similar to shame and sorrow was whispering in the depths of his dark minds…

Narrowing his brows, Naruto shadowed his eyes. _'There is nothing to feel,'_ he mentally reminded himself, _'There is no-one worthy of a sorrow!'_

Passing the broken gates, Naruto turned his dead eyes up as silent whispers from emerging shadows caught his attention…

"…it's him…"

"…those eyes…"

"…inhuman…"

"…they're beasts…"

"…freaks…"

"…no…seeds of demons…"

…Each utter of those few words felt like a stab in the back.

Narrowing his eyes, the whiskered-boy gave an audible hiss, which made the curious shinobi flinch and silence themselves as they quickly took several steps back and hid back in the shadows.

Lowering his head, Naruto's features softened and his eyes lidded close in deep inner pain, "…It's all the same…" he whispered.

The red-head holding him by the waist and helping him walk, squeezed his side in a silent, reassuring manner.

Seven of the following black-cloaked men behind couldn't help but take their eyes of the two silent teens and look about the demolished sight of the what-was-left village.

"It's rather uncharacteristic to see your town like this…, which makes me wonder…" walking besides the seemingly endlessly-glaring young Uchiha, a tall blue-skinned male asked, "…was all this the doing of the Lightning …or these two?"

Not taking his gaze of the boys, Itachi answered shortly, "In general – by only one of the two."

Turning his piercing orbs onto the limping blond, Kisame's slightly widened eyes narrowed. "What exactly are they?" He asked a question which seemed to perk the interest of the rest as well.

Itachi looked at the tall man from the corner of his eye before looking back front without giving a single clue for an answer.

At this even Kakashi arched his brow. _'What is it that you know, Uchiha?'_

Tilting his head to the side, Tobi's mouth formed a smile and he shot his hand up, waving enthusiastically at the approaching several figures, "Hey, Jiraiya-san, Orochimaru-san!!"

At least that broke some of the tension in the suffocating air.

"Good to see you too …_Tobi_," greeted Orochimaru while Jiraiya gave him a half smile that did not linger for long…not till his eyes settled on the two main subjects.

"I guessed it was just a matter of time." Breaking his stare with Gaara, Jiraiya turned to Orochimaru, "I'll inform the rest to stop searching."

Nodding, Orochimaru silently motioned Gaara and the two Anbu to follow him.

Saying nothing, Gaara gripped Naruto's side tighter and went after the Sannin with Hatake and Uchiha warily watching their each move.

As the five slowly disappeared from the view, Jiraiya turned to the rest and tried not to stare at Hidan's torn pants. "We apologize for the _inconvenience_ that kept your arrival. What that boy did was quite…unexpected."

"Nothing to worry about. The walk was becoming too boring anyways. So you could say it turned out quite fun in the end, hmm." smirked Deidara, ignoring a deep hiss from the Jashinis.

"Mm," nodding while running his gaze over the gang, Jiraiya's brows abruptly furrowed together as the absence of one made him question, "Where's Yahiko?"

* * *

Turing the streets corner while following after the Sannin, Naruto couldn't help but snort in abrupt antipathy as a sudden scent of some of his peers (mainly Orochimaru's students), sitting on the ruins they were about to pass, greeted him.

'_Tch…vermin.'_

The moment the group saw them, silent hisses, glares and unspoken promises for payback broke through.

Ignoring them, 'brothers' kept on moving till a smirking voice called after them, "Had a fun time running away _little boys_?" Halting in their steps, Naruto and Gaara both turned to the aqua-haired teen. "By the _ravishing_ look on ya, I suppose you did…"

"Comparing the encounter with a _dipshit of a man _such as yourself, this time it was worthwhile," retorted Naruto.

Suigetsu's smirk wavered and he jumped from the big rock he was slouching on, and approached the two short boys, feeling extremely pleased with the way he towered above them. "Watch your tongue, pretty blond. I wouldn't want anything to happen to it before I get a chance to have it between my teeth and taste it," licking his lips for empathizes, Suigetsu leaned closer.

"Get your mug away from me," hissed Naruto in warning, not feeling the usual urge to play before the kill.

"Or what?" challenged ever persistent and 'suicidal' Suigetsu, pushing away a lock of golden hair from Naruto's blooded eyes, which was a very bad idea… …

…Because the next thing Suigetsu did was scream as he was pushed to the ground with loose Naruto attacking him and beating him into the dirt.

Aggression filled the air as the rest of the teens jumped from their spots and charged at Naruto, who was strangling poor Suigetsu to death.

Grabbing Naruto by the elbow, Gaara jerked him away from the aqua-haired before he could actually kill him, …but that somehow resulted him in getting punched with a fist that was no doubt directed at Naruto…

…As his face was forced to the side, Gaara turned his head slowly back to glare at the green lipped teen – Sakon, who froze with everyone else on the spot.

Letting Naruto go, Gaara's eyes hardened and, forgetting all about his own self-control, he slammed his fist hard in Sakon's nose, which broke the hesitation of others and soon the whole chaos spread about between would-be friends…

Staring at the crazy teens trying to kill each other, Orochimaru sighed as he still didn't bother to move from his observation post, "Now that's something you don't see every day." Shaking his head at the two Anbu moving to break in, the Sannin guessed that a good opportunity to vent themselves out would only do well to everyone.

"What a Hell is going on here?!" just when the Hokage came into the view with the other Jounin and Anbu following, Orochimaru decided that it would be finally the time to step in.

Grabbing hold of Naruto and Gaara, they forced them out of the dust of flying fists and kicks.

Fighting against Kakashi and Itachi's hold, Naruto tried to get to the dizzy-looking Suigetsu, who was being pulled to his limp feet by some Jounin and even had the nerve to chuckle.

"You're so feisty… Just the way I like it."

"You fucked up, seaweed-haired degenerate! Get over here! I'm gonna rip all those dead limbs between your legs and stuff them in your-…!!"

"Good God, child! Have some decency!" yelled wide-eyed Sarutobi, stepping in between the fire spitting teens.

Turning then to the _snake-_Sannin, the old-man reproached, "What the Hell were you thinking, Orochimaru, letting them fight like that?!"

Not even trying to conceal his smirk, the Sannin replied, "Forgive me, Hokage-sama. But it seemed amusing at that time. And besides, I do believe it only served for the better…otherwise something much more improper could have happened."

Sighing in uselessness and rolling his eyes to the sky, Sarutobi groaned and dismissed the other Jounin and Anbu who dragged Orochimaru's pissed off students along with themselves.

"This isn't over!!" they yelled before they were dragged away from the hearing's range.

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Sarutobi finally looked sharply at displeased Naruto and indifferent Gaara. "_You two_, living disasters, are really starting to tickle my patience!" he hissed while glaring at them. "Now listen here! …I don't care how the idiotic fight started or what has happened. But right now you are going to come with me and I don't want to hear _or_ see a single objection or loose emotions of attempted murder! Or else…!!"

Scrunching his face in a disagreeing manner, Naruto assured himself that he wasn't 'pouting'.

"And cease your pout, child, it does not work on me."

"I'm _not_ pouting you old-dolt!!"

* * *

Entering the area of the village's western part, which was theoretically the still safely remaining and undestroyed side of the town, Naruto slowed down and blinked as he felt them approach a rather big and well secured house with no held windows, except at the very top. _'The interrogation post…'_ He was literally jerked back into reality by a hard shove on his back, which forced him to stumble forward. Hissing at the two glaring Anbu behind him, he wasn't given a chance to continue with whatever curse or torturous method he wanted to unleash, since Gaara grabbed his wrist and pulled him after himself through the opened doors.

Escorting them down the torch filled hallway, Sandaime came to a halt before a double door and nodded for the two Anbu guarding them to open up.

As they entered, Gaara blinked indifferently at the all known shadowed faces in it (the lord of the fire country; the elders of the council – Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane; Danzo and Gennou; without the mention of Ibiki, many Anbu and Root members hidden in deeper shadows), while the blond teen by his side was shaking on the internal.

Grinning wide, Naruto couldn't hold in a chuckle, "Well would you look at that. We gots ourselves a whole farm house here, full with lots 'n' lots of goats and…oh how rude of me – one _she_-goat." his grin only widened with every felt murderess intent directed at him.

"Small…loud…illiterate…intolerant…and insolent." spoke up a deep voice from the shadowed man, "I don't think I can find better words to describe a beast such as _you_."

Naruto's grin turned weak with every heard word. "This must be Danzo." Although this statement was said to Gaara, many, especially Danzo, blinked at him in startle.

"How on earth does that _thing_ know my name?" This left Danzo feel very insecure.

"There is much more that I know about you than just your name." mumbled Naruto, trying hard to keep calm and not jump one of them just to satisfy his bloodlust.

"Don't you dare talk to me in such a way, _parasite_!"

"I'm not even planning to waste my breath to talk to the likes of _you_." taking a threatening step forward, Naruto flinched as the Uchiha grabbed his elbow and pulled him back.

"You'll do well to learn obedience soon, creature," Danzo's gaze hardened as he mightily stepped closer, "Over a luck such a thing as you is still kept alive."

"Careful with the distance, _pismire_, or I might actually 'bite'." mockingly retorted the blond.

"You little…"

"Enough!" cutting in before the conversation turned into another battlefield, Sandaime stopped in front of the blond, facing Danzo. "I think that would be far sufficient, Danzo."

Sending one more glare at the blond, Danzo 'hn'-ed and limped a few steps back, letting then out a smirk as Ibiki brushed pass him while dragging heavy seal cuffs.

"Bring him down." Ibiki commanded.

Naruto gasped as he was suddenly hit hard on his knee joints and crushed to his knees. As he was held down by the Uchiha, he felt Hatake roughly grab his left wrist and hold it tight while Ibiki opened the chains.

Startled and frightened by the action of the memory's past, Naruto felt anger boil and he ripped his arm away and jabbed Kakashi in his solar plexus before catching Ibiki hard in the eye.

"Fuck! Little brat!"

"Hold him still!"

Angered Ibiki growled as he composed himself and was about to unleash his cracked knuckles on the blond, whose wrists were now twisted behind his back by the Uchiha, but stopped as the red-head appeared in front of him to shielded his 'brother' away. "No. Don't approach him!"

"Move out of my way!" growled threateningly Ibiki, already in a worse than bad mood.

Gaara's eyes narrowed. "If you will place chains on him you will unleash something much more worse than just his first sealed level." he said, warning them about the blond's second chakra's outburst that could come out once more.

"Ibiki, stand down." calmly said Sandaime, understanding that all his previous warnings to the two boys were all useless. _'God, Minato I will kill you if you will not take my place soon. I need to retire from this nightmare.'_

"Sarutobi! You are _not_ going to let that 'creature' out of chains. Restrain him, immediately!" Utatane nearly shouted, spitting the order as venom.

Gaara's eyes hardened as they bore into Hokage's, who sighed in deadlock. "That shall be a negatory, my fellow council."

"What was that?"

"I thought that we already cleared that out," suddenly intervened a new voice entering the dark room.

"This does not concern _you_, Namikaze!" hissed Danzo, glaring at Minato as he came to stand besides Sarutobi.

"Maybe it does not concern him," a smoother voice cut in, "…but it sure does _me_."

"K…Kazekage-sama?" startled member of the council quickly inclined their heads in an uneasy manner as a young-woman appeared in the light and stopped by Minato's side with someone stopping in shadows behind them both.

Narrowing her brows, Temari took a quick look at her 'brother' and the second teen about whom she only heard from others; taking into account his condition she turned back to the council. "I thought that the whole notion of alliance between two villages was based on something akin to 'trust'. …But considering the state of one of my most loyal shinobi, I am beginning to have second doubts. Correct me if I'm wrong, but does the fact that I have given orders to sent help to the fellow Leaf village means that you must then 'thank' me by imprisoning on one of my men?!"

Naruto arched a confused brow, understanding nothing that's happening around him, and opened his mouth to say something but thought against when Gaara pinched his side to keep him silent.

"Our deep apologies, Kazekage-sama," shrunk Mitokado, "…but we had no knowledge of these two……_boys_…actually being legions of your lands."

"For that I apologies myself. I know that you didn't…at first. But what about after?" The elders exchanged worried glances. "I do believe that Sandaime-sama had informed you about their place at the first given opportunity. And even then, instead of letting them come home, you stood your oppositions and placed them in confinement!?"

"It was not that simple." Danzo cut in, "With war going around, what could be expected from us once we found out about their immense powers? They are _not_ normal."

"That is my concern, Danzo-san. These two nins were my village's secret which was planned to be foretold in time coming,…yet now it doesn't matter anymore. You had exposed their cover the moment you retained them."

"Since we're allied, why hide them and send them to this village as common builders?"

"Safety precautions. They worked this entire time undercover, Mitokado-san." replied Temari, "The lesser people knew about them, the bigger the chance it was to actually surprise the enemy and turn the tables on them. If they were revealed immediately, then the whole element would have been ruined. Just a light sense of their chakra would be enough to give away their entire position. We dared not take that risk. Even if it meant not informing you."

"It would have all been understood if only they didn't try to run away every given chance or fight back."

"And for that you can blame your curiosity, Danzo-san. You should have long since known not to restrain a fellow ally just because of your sudden curiosity of their power. Tempering with them and pushing their limits is something even we can't allow ourselves. It is very dangerous, as I believe you already found out the hard way. These shinobi were trained under very strict methods and techniques. You'd do wise not to stand in their way."

"How could you risk with our safety that way." interjected Utatane, "You literally unleashed two unstable beasts on our lands with no precaution or warning at hand!"

"Precaution? They are not murderous monsters, Utatane-san. I have my full trust in them. And as for "unleashing" them, as you likely put it, I did it because I knew that they were the only ones who could actually make a change in the battle and defeat the enemy."

"One thing they did for certain – destroy half of the whole village." mumbled Danzo.

"You still should have warned us about them." protested Utatane, "We were not prepared to face something like _this_."

"Neither were you prepared to face the Lightning's sudden attack!" snapped Temari, calming down as silence spread about. "And another reason why I didn't tell you about them and made them go undercover – well…it can be all seen by the way you are treating them now." Her features turned in disgust. "If only I knew what kind of gratitude my troops shall receive after saving your lives, I would have long since begun reconsidering this whole covenant of alliance. Hokage-sama, you can thank your council for it."

The council gapped at the shrewd woman. "We were only doing that what was best for our village and its people!"

Temari's eyes narrowed as she abruptly blabbed out, "By trying to murder my brother's brother?"

The council paled, "… you-…your brother?…"

Sandaime blinked as well and turned to look at Temari and Minato, though searching for a different answer. "What do you mean…'murder'?" that was something new to him.

Suddenly a sound of something being dropped in between their formed circle made them look down. The two members of the council gasped openly at two lying white-clad Anbu bodies by their feet, while Danzo's eye narrowed and he looked up at a tall man who had dropped them in an unceremonial manner.

"This belongs to you," grumbled Kakuzu as he glared unfazed into Danzo's own threatening glare.

"I don't know what you mean." said the one eyed man in deep, cogent voice.

"Mind someone telling me why are there two dead bodies lying beneath my feet?!" growled Mitokado in the middle.

"These men were members of Root squad Danzo had reformed secretly undergrounds," informed Minato, brushing off Danzo's daring glares.

"I dealt with them personally before their execution," continued Kakuzu. "Their purpose was the elimination of that child," he explained as he nodded towards Naruto.

Danzo's hands clenched. "It's preposterous. I don't know these men."

Stepping forward, Kakuzu bent down and grabbed one of the lying bodies' jaws, "Then explain this," forcefully he open the victims mouth – displaying a sightworthy black-stripped tattoo-seal on the dead man's tongue, which was a restriction mark that Danzo has placed on all of his troops.

Hokage's eyes narrowed and he looked up from the tattoo, recognizing it immediately. "What is this Danzo?"

Locking his eye with Minato instead, Danzo glared for the longest of times until he snarled, "Supposedly a failed improvement."

Frowning, Hokage looked to the side and nodded to the four Anbu, who emerged from the shadows and surrounded the elder.

Danzo's expression hardened and he finally looked at Sarutobi who only shook his head. "I believe no further explanation is necessary. Take him away."

Looking hatefully one more time at 'brothers', Danzo gripped his stick harder and as he supported himself with it, he calmly headed for the exit with the Anbu escorting. Passing by the Namikaze, he stopped besides him and turned his head to face him. "Don't think that such a minor mishap as imprisonment shall stop me from getting things my way, Namikaze. This isn't over just yet."

Minato's eyes narrowed, watching the elder proceed onwards and leave the room.

Sensing an uneasy feeling coming, Sarutobi turned to Orochimaru, who gave a light nod, silently saying that he shall watch after him, and disappeared through the doors.

As soon as the lock closed, everyone looked back to each other till the Kazekage spoke up, "If that is all, I will ask you to release Gaara and Naruto at once."

The two councilmen exchanged unsure glances.

"That would be fine." keeping silent till now, finally spoke up the land lord. "Let them go."

"But my lord…" protested the councilmen.

"That would be enough Koharu, Homura. I don't see any flows that should keep these two boys in this contempt any longer. Clearly this whole mess was a big misunderstanding."

Hatake and Uchiha looked at each other doubly but finally released Naruto from their grip, watching as he fell to his knees and the red-head knelt before him.

Locking then his piercing eyes on Naruto, the lord said, "Now if you please could excuse us, but we would like to clear some things out…alone."

Nodding, the council exited, followed by the shadowed Anbu and Root members, who disappeared from sight.

As soon as everyone unwanted was gone, Temari exhaled a deep amount of breath and nearly collapsed on the ground, yet Minato quickly caught her.

"Get her some water," commanded the Namikaze as he gently lowered her to sit on the floor.

Kneeling in front of her, Gennou passed her a glass of water. "I guess you went too far into the role there, Temari-san." he joked playfully as she cleared her spinning head.

"I never experience a situation where I had to lie to the council with such vigor. I thought I was going to suffocate from the pressure."

"Thank you very much for your help, Temari." thanked Minato in gratitude.

"Of course…" she smiled, taking sips of water. "…Gaara is practically my brother after all."

"Well at least now we don't have to worry about the council getting on our tail anymore." said Sandaime as he himself took a good gulp of water. "God, I could really go for a 'sake' right now."

Chuckling lightly, Gennou looked at the two boys sitting a bit away from them. Smiling he walked up to them. "Naruto…" he called, getting the blond's attention, flinching involuntarily as those dead-eyes turned to look up to the sound of his voice.

"Gennou…" the blond nodded in acknowledgment.

Kneeling down, the man suddenly enfolded him in a tight embrace.

The Uchiha and Hatake, still standing close to 'brothers', stiffened and gripped their katanas, prepared, and silently willing, to kill the blond if he attacks.

"Thank you…" said the old-man gripping Naruto tighter, "Thank you so much for saving this village."

Naruto blinked feeling a bit uneasy, but after a minute's hesitation he encircled his arms around Gennou's shoulders and allowed a little smile, "…sure…"

Pulling away, Gennou brushed away blond/red bangs and finally took a good look at Naruto's features. "Say what you will, boy," he said smirking, "but you are just too much like Minato."

Kakashi nearly choked on air, while Naruto bared his fangs at the man's comment.

"Oh, now you're just proving my point, you even act the same."

"Gennou," the country's lord came to stand behind the kneeling man, "…don't you think it's a tad bit much." he said before looking meaningfully up at the two present Anbu, reminding the old-man about their unsafe surroundings for such conversations.

"Why? I didn't actually say anything…yet."

Shaking his head the lord opened his mouth to say something but Minato cut him off,

"I think before anything is said or done, we should get Naruto to the hospital."

"Tch…don't think you can tell me what I need!" Jumping to his feet to prove the point, Naruto yelped as he push his whole weight on his forgotten sprained ankle and fell back on the ground with an embarrassing 'thud'. "Bloody shit!"

Rolling his eyes, Gaara grabbed the blond and helped him up to his limp feet.

"That was _not_ supposed to _happen_!" hissed Naruto, gripping Gaara's shoulder for a better support.

"I would've started to think that it wasn't you if it actually didn't happen." Gaara tried to help but that only resulted in more 'colorful'-words from the blond.

The red-head sighed, "Will you quit yammering already?!"

"I am _not _ya-mm… … …" suddenly the blond collapsed as his eyes rolled shut.

"Naruto? Oi, Naruto!"

* * *

Pushing his eyelids slowly open, Naruto blinked for several times till he adjusted them enough to his own comfort…

"It's dark…" he silently said to himself, knowing that even without his foul vision the chamber he was placed in was dark itself because of the pitch night outside.

Sniffing out for different scents, the only breathing thing Naruto felt was Gaara, who was asleep while sitting on the ground and leaning against his bed.

Pushing himself up to sit, he hissed as his head throbbed in complain. "Ahh… must have passed out then." he guessed, remembering himself 'yammering', as Gaara nicely put it, before going out cold from exhaustion…

…Rubbing his sore head, he blinked as he brushed pass a white medical headband tied around his forehead. Reaching then over to his right arm, he scowled as he felt it tied-tight into a gyps. "Tch…" after fully examining his whole body, Naruto snarled as he soon found out that practically every part of him was tied or stitched up. "Useless," he grumbled and began tearing off every cord or bandage from around his head, waist, arms and legs…

…Kicking angrily from the bed, he quickly caught himself before he fell again and carefully limped over to the room's window, opening it after a light jam he took in a good amount of fresh breeze and sighed tiredly…

…Stepping then on the windowsill, Naruto flopped down on it, hanging his legs out the window while leaning his back against the frame.

The streets were empty of people, only night crickets and owls were the ones awake and voicing things out. Wind lightly perked up and brushed the blond's few strands from his eyes before calming down again…

"…I'm finally home…" blinking calmly said Naruto as he subconsciously scratched his numb arm, "…and placed in confinement to this village's stained walls……" Falling silent for a few seconds as he thought, Naruto slowly shook his head. "Didn't really think it will ever turn out like this even in _this_ world."

"How then did you think it will turn out?" suddenly asked a deep, rich voice, startling the teen as chills went down his spine and he quickly turned to face the man leaning against the closed doors.

"Who are you?" whispered Naruto, frowning as his hand began to shake unwillingly from the man's radiating aura.

The man smirked as he said, "That's not important. But if you want you can call me Nagato."

Gripping the sides of the window, Naruto slowly slid down from the sill, not taking his focus from the man giving him the creeps. "Why are you here? What do you want?"

"Curiosity mostly," shrugged the man as he pushed away from the doors, slowly approaching the teen. "Been looking forward to meet the very boy who, you could almost say, singlehandedly saved the village before nearly annihilating its existence."

Baring his teeth, Naruto fisted his left hand as the distance between them was shortened with each step the man took. Growling he suddenly broke the window, grabbing a long piece of glass from it, Naruto held it out. "Don't!" he warned, letting the man know that he does not want anyone near him.

Stopping on instinct, Nagato looked the teen in the eyes and then on his shaking hand that was gripping the glass-made weapon, which was making him lose a lot of blood. _'Does he fear me or something?' _Frowning Nagato took a step forward yet stopped when the blond flinched and tightened his grip on the shard. "What is the matter? Are you afraid of me?"

Taken slightly aback, Naruto blinked before he hissed out in deep venom, "…I know _you_."

It was Nagato's turn to blink, "What do you mean?"

Clenching his teeth hard as he felt his body tremble more, Naruto didn't answer just whisper hatefully, "Go…away!"

Nagato arched a confused brow, until a realization came to him, _'So…he must have met me during the time in his own world… And apparently our interaction was anything but amiable.'_ while lost in his thoughts, he didn't sense a sand crawl all around his body till it wrapped itself around his neck.

"What are you doing here?" asked the emotionless voice of the wakened red-head, absorbing him carefully from his spot on the floor.

'_How inconvenient,'_ sighed Nagata before he disappeared from Gaara's sand, making the said red-head jump to his feet and look around the room in alarm. "Where is he?"

"There is no reason to get that far…" Nagato's voice sounded in the whole room, till he himself appeared right behind the startled blond. "…I was just about ready to leave anyways." With that he disappeared again, barely escaping a fist that leashed out from the blond but contacted harshly with the second (unbroken) window instead – shattering it into pieces.

As the shards of the window crushed to the wooden floor, the room fell into silence.

"Who was he?" finally asked Gaara, realizing by Naruto's behavior that he must have known the man.

Ignoring his still shaking hand, Naruto replied, "That was Pain."

* * *

"How long have I been out?"

"Four days." explained Gaara, "Shouldn't be that much of a surprise… you had lost your control on the second source after all."

Nodding, Naruto turned back to the night outside. "Did they actually allow us freedom?"

"You could say that…, as long as we are confined to these walls, they won't bother…, not till the mystery about our exchange will be solved. Other than that we are allowed to leave to Suna, but only under a watchful eye of an escort."

Frowning, Naruto continued scratching his right arm on his lap, feeling no pulse or pain on it at all. "How 'generous' of them."

Scowling at the blond's action, Gaara crossed his arms and leaned besides the window the blond was sitting on. "Why did you take off your bandages? Don't you want to let it heal?"

"It is not going to heal." snorted the blond, "… …And I don't think I really want it to heal."

Gaara's eyes slightly widened and his arms nearly dropped. "What are you saying?"

Shadowing his eyes, Naruto did not say anything for a long time, until finally, "Did you know…that I was not actually going to kill him?!" Gaara looked up at him as he abruptly began to speak about the encounter with his 'father'. "I knew that…even when I charged…I knew deep down that I could not hurt him. …That's something I did not expect." Closing his eyes Naruto bit his lip. "Have you any idea how long I craved for that opportunity?! How many sleepless nights I waited?! …I even embraced rage and gave my instincts to the bloodlust. I wanted _them_ all to fear me. I wanted _him_ to know what it's like… – all that pain that I know, …the sorrow, …the humiliation …everything. … …But I…" clenching his right-hand tightly, he grit his teeth, "…despite everything I… I just couldn't do the final blow." Naruto's grip tightened on his arm so hard that his nails broke deeply through the flesh.

Gaara quickly grabbed hold of his wrists and prayed them away from hurting himself more.

"…why…" whispered the blond, clenching his eyes tight as they began to tear, "…why could I not kill? …why…?! I…I thought that I…"

Letting his hands go, Gaara pulled the teen into his arms to calm him.

'_You are not a monster Naruto…. That's why you couldn't do it…no matter how much you thought you wanted to.'_

* * *

_A/N_

_**è **__Thanx to the reviewers:_ narubby23, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Whiteinu1, ElementalFoxGoddess, Kisanei, enchanted nightingale, Twisted Vixen, Orannis4, diaryanjo, MadMonki, grey-shadow-horse & Conflicted Soul!

_**è **__replies to chp #19:_

Conflicted Soul – Thank ya so very-very much!XDD It is so very pleasant to know that ya enjoy this story;)) Hopefully I'll keep it just as interesting for ya even further?! & no-no, you do not annoy or bore me, I've never received such a long, emotion-filled review in my lifeXD, it was exiting & very enjoyable to read!XD  
Well the thing with Sasuke is that before getting to him or any other unseen character in this story, I thought that I should clear things with the main ones 1st…& now that the 'brothers' are free to walk around, I can move over to the others;))  
Pandemonium is like Hell of the demons. Naruto said that as a mockery, thinking that besides bringing him to Konoha (which in his theory is Hell enough), Gaara would do something worse than that. But that's that…;))  
Ok…Thank ya again for such a great review!XDD

grey-shadow-horse – thank ya!XD

MadMonki – thank ya very much for the review!XDD

diaryanjo – 2x a thanx to ya!XD & don't ya cry, it'll be alright:))

Orannis4 – 2x a thanx to ya so very much!XDD

Twisted Vixen – thank ya sooo much!XDD

enchanted nightingale – thank ya!XDD

Kisanei – thank ya so much!XDD Right now Naruto is given time, so he'll cope;)) & his eyes & arm will follow suit…someday;))

ElementalFoxGoddess – thank ya so very much!XDD His arm & eyes shall be mended soon, & as for his sanity… … …;))

Whiteinu1 – thank ya for review!XDD

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – thank ya – thank ya very much!XDD

narubby23 – thank ya for review!XDD


	21. Chapter 21

'_**Chapter 21'**_

* * *

The next morning both 'brothers' were found lying asleep side by side on the ground beneath the broken windows.

The two entering nurses looked up at them and blushed. "For someone so dangerous, they're kind a cute…" one of them whispered while the other nodded and smirking silently slipped closer, making the first nurse look up uncertainly, "Maybe we should leave now; we shouldn't even be here in the first place? What if they wake up?"

The other gave her an annoyed look. "Oh be quiet! I just want to get a closer look."

Just as the second nurse seemed to take final few steps from reaching the two teens, the blond's blooded eyes suddenly shot wide open. The sudden action and the frightful sight of his orbs startled the nurses so much that they both screamed and dashed out of the room like lightning.

Naruto couldn't help himself, he started laughing which eventually awoke Gaara.

"God, you're so damn loud," sending the boy a glare, Gaara grouchily stood up.

"And you're unbelievably silent all the freakin' time, so shut up and help me up! Ow!!…I said 'help me up', not 'hit me on the head'!"

"Annoying little brat," grumbled Gaara but helped the teen to his feet.

"Well ain't that just sweet," said Gennou, abruptly entering the hospital room like from nowhere. "It's not even past fifth morning of your awakening and you are already scaring the souls of the innocent into heart-attacks like a bloody reaper at night." he nodded towards the hallway where he caught the girls run out screaming in fear.

Mumbling something incoherent, Naruto sighed as he was disposed back on the bed, and felt Gaara then tie some kind of a replacement fabric around his tearful eyes.

"I'm going out." stated Gaara as he passed the elder man, "Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid before I get back… But then again – it's not possible."

"You!!…" grabbing an empty vase on the bedside table Naruto threw it after the red-head, but it crashed against the closing doors instead.

"Bad morning?" tried to guess Gennou.

"No! …Just an INCONSIDERATE PRICK FOR A BROTHER!" yelled Naruto, hoping Gaara would hear him.

"Shut up, Naruto! This is a hospital not a sale's-market!" hissed Gaara's voice in the halls behind the doors.

"Argh… …'Humph'!" shooting his nose high, Naruto crossly fell back on the bed.

Shaking his head, Gennou walked over to the broken glass crumbles under the window he spotted. "Now who was the unlucky one who came to see you last night?" he wondered, quite familiar with the blond's antics once encountering an unwanted presence.

"Pain," Naruto hissed out unintentionally.

"Come again?!" the old-man blinked confusingly at him, which caused Naruto to blink as well…

"What?" …till he realized what he said. "…Err…no, I mean, it was…something close to 'Naga'-or whatever…?!"

"You mean Nagato?" Gennou looked at the blond now interestingly. "So Nagato is this…_Pain_ in your universe, yes?"

"That doesn't matter!" barked Naruto, returning to his previous process in scratching his numb wrist.

"That's kind a sad… Was he really such a 'pain' in your world?"

"Not 'pain' as in annoying…but 'pain' as in suffering. That was his main alibi."

"Oh? Who was he to you then?"

Chuckling lightly Naruto shook his head. "No…" he said suddenly as he turned to the direction of the man's voice, deciding to receive an answer of his own instead, "_You_ tell me 'who is he to me _here_'?"

Gennou arched a wary brow.

* * *

Ignoring the looks and the way people seemed to clear out of his path, Gaara soon came by a tall house where he was met with cautious looking Iruka.

Greeting him with bare nod, Iruka then escorted him down the endless hallways. As soon as they stopped before a double-door, Iruka granted him entry and disappeared out of the sight.

Entering a lightened room which resembled a big living-room, Gaara gave a light nod to the Hokage and his two 'siblings' who smiled at him from their post on the couch beside the _slug_-Sannin.

"How is he?" asked the Namikaze, coming to stand behind the Hokage who sat at the desk.

"Naruto is fine. He woke up yesterday evening." the red-head informed them briefly.

"That's nice to hear. I would like to meet him some time later, if that could be arranged," said Temari wishfully.

"All in due time," smiled Sarutobi, "But not right now. We should give him enough space to collect himself. By the way, is Gennou with him this moment?"

"Yes," shortly Gaara answered, not missing a slight gleam between anger and sadness reflect in Minato's deep eyes. The man had banned himself from seeing his 'son', knowing that Naruto needed a lot of time before facing him.

"That old-man is such a sneak." grumbled Sandaime.

"Your friend Nagato also came." crossing his arms, Gaara then abruptly stated, not sounding delighted at all, "And, in case you are wondering, the encounter was anything but pleasant."

"Really? Did something happen?" wondered Tsunade.

Gaara frowned, "Be it to your likings or not, but I suggest you to sustain their encounters from now on."

"And why is that?" abruptly asked a shadowed figure leaning against the far corner of the room; narrow eyes met unfazed green. "I think I have _every_ right to see him."

"I beg to differ."

Stepping into the light, Nagato crossed his arms as he spoke, "Basing on your reaction, you know how to keep your emotions intact quite well…, though I can't say the same for your brother. Tell me, Gaara. Who am I to him in your world?"

Gaara shook his head. "You wouldn't want to know."

"I think that's for me to decide." daringly, hissed Nagato.

'_So be it.'_ Gaara knew that it will sound harsh, but the man asked for it himself. "It would be wise to bear in mind…that you are a person he detests far more than his own father."

Minato and Nagato looked at each other, not even their worst enemies would dare and uphold such spiteful thoughts of them.

'_First Minato…now Nagato? How many more is there on his list?' _"Now that's just great…" exhaling in anxiousness, Tsunade rubbed her temples. "Is there maybe something else that we need to be wary of?"

Feeling that enough bad news is spread about, Gaara prepared to leave but then remembered what exactly he came for in the first place. "There is one more thing."

Before he could loosen all of their anxious expressions prepared for anything he was to throw at them, a knock on the door forced him to still his tongue and glance pass his shoulder at the entering four Anbu, who seemed to still at seeing him but then scowl threateningly while one of them continued forward and passed a report to the Hokage of their mission.

Nodding, Sarutobi took the scroll and looked up at the Anbu, "Anything you found out?"

"Their motions have calmed. The recuperation of the Lightning's ranks is repressing their next assault." replied the voice Gaara recognized to be Itachi's. "The second squad has remained in its post; their withdrawal shall rest on further orders."

"Good. We'll give them a month. If no movements shall be spotted till then, send a message to retrograde."

Nodding, Itachi turned on his heels and headed for the exit, sure to pass the red-head with a scornful look before leaving with the rest of the Anbu.

Watching them leave, Gaara turned back to the rest as his attention was called,

"Sorry about the interruption." apologized the Hokage as he urged the teen to continue, "You were saying?"

Wondering if there shall be objections to this, Gaara ask. "Excuse my insistence…, but there is an entreaty that I would like to ask of you."

"What's that?" asked Minato.

"In need you to authorize at least 25 hectare wide clearing field."

"What?" the Hokage blinked.

"I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Gaara." Tsunade interfered, "Naruto's wounds are not yet healed enough for you to get into sparring methods… Nor do I think they will heal at a-…"

"I'm not asking for a training ground, Tsunade-san," cutting her off Gaara said unhurriedly, "It's for something else."

Their eyes narrowed.

* * *

"You're not actually planning to try and kill him as well, are you?" carefully Gennou wondered, thinking that if this boy was once so bent on putting his theoretical father through torture then there is nothing stopping him from doing the same to someone parallel to those who he had his _hit-list_ on.

"Fortunate for him," said Naruto, "If you had forgotten, I can't do anything right now," he pointed towards his limp right-wrist. "So what exactly are you worrying about?"

"After what happened…?!" skeptically replied the old-man, looking out into the destroyed village's streets, "…It's hard to believe that _that_ would be an obstacle for you. Good Lord, boy, you practically destroyed the whole village with chakra that you were _not_ supposed to even _have_!" lectured Gennou.

"Urgh… if it makes you feel any happier, only _half_ of the darn village was destroyed!" growled the blond.

"God, you're impossible!"

"And you're intolerably inquisitive!"

Gennou smirked. "I guess that goes for the both of us. But in any case, I'm not the right person to tell you who that man is. It is Nagato's or Minato's wish whether to tell you or not."

Naruto heaved out an incredulous laugh, there was something the way Gennou had said that. "If you are trying to insinuate that he is related to me in a way, I will kill you."

Gennou sweat-drop, _'Well…not 'exactly' by blood.'_

A tug on the doorknob saved Gennou from the blond's further observations. "Ah, Tsunade, Gaara! How nice of you to _finally_ come. And right on time too. Sorry I can't stay much longer, but you know me…I am a _very_ busy person. So I'll just help myself out. Ta-ta!" said Gennou a little bit too fast and marched out of the room at a quick pace.

"Tch…" _'…Old-dork…' _mentally grumbled Naruto and turned his head to the window.

Closing the doors, Tsunade placed her robe on the stool and walked over to the blond. "How are you feeling?" she inquired, placing her hand on his forehead before taking his right-wrist and checking its various points.

"Perplexed," said the blond, referring more to the conversation he had with the old-man Gennou than himself.

After placing new clothes for the blond on the stool while listening to their conversation, Gaara walked over to the glass crumbles on the floor. Not bothering to bend down or uncross his arms so as to pick them up…instead he watched the summoned sand do it in his place.

"I'll take that as an ordinary," said Tsunade and pulled out a syringe with medical elixir and a few bandages from her pockets, placing them on the bedside table…

…Frowning at the torn bandages on the floor, she didn't bother questioning the action since she was already informed of the teen's stubbornness. _'One Minato was bad enough… but two?!'_ Sighing she went to check his sprained ankle…

"Don't hold in if the pain overflows."

"Won't need to." Naruto brushed her off simply.

'_A tough-nut huh?!'_ twitching at the familiar smugness, a glint formed in Tsunade's smirking eyes,_ 'Ok…we'll see for how long…'_

…Pocking the swelled flesh in a few places and gaining no reaction from the blond, nodding, satisfied with his apparent endurance so far, Tsunade then grabbed a tight hold on his foot and turned it into unimaginable degree.

Naruto's eyes would have shot wide open if it wasn't for the fabric. "AAAAaahh…What a Fuck Are You Doing, YOU HAG!!" That gained more than an audible shout as a reaction from her 'tough-nut' patient.

Her sly smirk was quickly replaced with a deep scowl. "What did you call me?!" she growled and twitched the blond's foot into another angle.

"GHAaaa… for Fuck'Sake, are you _trying_ to Kill Me?!" yelled Naruto, clenching the sheets and twisting his body in different angles in useless attempts to cease or escape the pain.

Gaara watched the interaction in amusement.

"Not yet…but call me that again, I'll send you limping your way piece by piece straight to Hell!" Done with her menace, she stopped torturing the teen's poor leg and finally began actually treating it.

'_What's the bloody point?! It was just twisted before but now it's fucking _broken_!!' _mentally Naruto yelled, moaning teary into the pillow. _'Curse the gender prohibitions which forbid me to hit a woman!'_

After greasing a medical lubricating oil on the now expand bruise, she began tying it up.

"Why aren't you using any of your healing chakra on it instead?" asked Gaara, absorbing the procedure.

Tsunade felt a bit uneasy as she wondered what more do these boys know about her skills; it made one feel very insecure. "We don't know the effects that can happen by healing his wounds. Mixing my chakra with your or your brother's second one, which is partly demon's, may lead to perilous outcomes."

Understanding, Gaara then stepped forward. "Let me heal it then."

Arching a brow, Tsunade backed up and watched in shock and slight interest as the red-head had to pierce his growing nails into the pulsing flesh so he could heal the panting blond's leg.

'_That's just brutal.' _she thought in both – disgust and sympathy as the blond forced down his whimpers.

"That's the only way we are able to fully heal each other's wounds… – by implying pain in order to heal. Minor injuries are nothing of a trouble, however when it comes to something more serious – we risk sacrificing something of our own so as to heal the other." explained the red-head, finally taking his nails out and checking the leg's flexibility. "Call it a 'curse' if you will… But unfortunately, not even 'it' is enough for me to heal his eyes."

"That doesn't matter…" Naruto panted out, "Some things were just more important to me at that time than my own self."

Tsunade smiled as Gaara gave the blond's healed leg a gentle squeeze before standing up and walking back to the window. The exchange of words and silence was connected with the 'brothers'' past sufferings that Tsunade could not quite understand…, yet it gave her enough clues to guess. Looking up at Gaara, she figured, _'So that is how Naruto lost his vision.' _…

…Turning then her attention back on the blond, she decided that a distraction was in order. Putting the bandages aside, after tying up the remaining nails' holes on the ankle, she grabbed an elixir and stuck a needle in the bottle's lid, filling the syringe with a pink liquid.

"Wh-what's that?" stammered Naruto, starting to fear the woman.

Grabbing his limp wrist, she cleaned the area above the visible vein and stuck the needle through the skin. "A formed mixture of rare weeds. That'll help your blood circulation and heal your bones back together at a faster pace." she informed, "Although it'll do nothing to recover your chakra control, at least your arm shall be in function."

Huffing, Naruto rubbed his hair, feeling little annoying stabs turning his attention from his stingy leg and onto the numb wrist.

Pulling the needle out, the woman applied an ointment on the bruised place and placed a small plaster on it…

…Reaching then into her pocket, Tsunade checked the time on the watch. "Now then…, you'll be feeling some pain on the arm for the next nineteen hours," she explained to Naruto, "But don't worry about it, that only means that it is beginning to heal. Furthermore, considering your endurance, you'll get used to it after the first six hours."

Suppressing a twitch from the upcoming pain, Naruto clapped his teeth as his right-wrist began to slightly increase the burning sensation on the internal. _'Nineteen hours?!! I knew it!! The witch _is_ killing me!!' _Inching to scratch the flesh, his hand was quickly smacked away.

"Don't touch it!" warned Tsunade in a harsh hiss. Grabbing a gauze, she bandaged his whole right-wrist with it. "If you will rip this off as well, I will smack you!" she threatened, giving the blond a feeling of her dark aura. "Do I made myself clear?!"

"Yes, ma'am'!" Naruto squeaked, daring not to object anymore.

"Good boy," petting the teen's cheek lightly, she then placed all of her straggled items back in her pockets and stood up to grab her robe. "We are done here for now. I suggest you to try and do something that'll get your mind off the pain. You are free to leave this room if you want, but be sure to come back before nightfall. Have a nice day!" giving her instructions, Tsunade bid her quick goodbyes and left them alone.

"Aa…," nodding in goodbye as well, Naruto then turned to Gaara and growled as soon as the 'witch' was gone, "I _hate_ her!"

Chuckling lightly, Gaara pulled out a red fabric from his pocket and walked over to the pouting blond. Taking off the replacement blindfold, he exchanged it with a new blood-red silk, similar to the one the blond lost in battle.

"Thanks," grateful, whispered Naruto, reaching out to touch the soothing silk.

Placing his hands back in pockets, Gaara's lids lowered, _'It's not me you should be thanking.'_ he thought, but dared not say anything loud since it was Minato who gave this to him.

"Let's go for a walk." Gaara then suggested.

* * *

After satisfying Naruto's hunger at the ramen shop and scaring the costumers away, Gaara lead him into Konoha's forest. It was surprising for the blond that they allowed them its entry, although on his option – five given miles which they were allowed from the village's walls was not nearly enough.

Soon they came before a familiar cliff that sustained a deep, wide, beautiful lake below; that was the same place where they usually spent most of the time after the work.

Helping Naruto up the tall cliff, Gaara then set next to him by the high edge, admiring the nature's beautiful sight before them.

"Ahh… how I would like to take a dip," sighed Naruto, wishing to just jump into the water below.

"Unlikely," Gaara didn't feel the same, snarling at the forced memories.

Chuckling at that, Naruto changed the subject. "Where did you leave to this morning?"

"To see the Hokage. Temari and Kankuro also were there." Gaara didn't miss a slight flinch of envy appear on Naruto's features till it was quickly replaced by a slight frown.

"Do they know?" he asked if they knew about them being from another dimension.

"Yes…" silently replied Gaara, looking back on the lake.

"Had some catching up to do then," sadly smiled Naruto.

"That was not the reason why I left." abruptly said the red-head.

Naruto arched a fine brow.

"Tomorrow we are going to summon it."

Naruto's other brow joined the raised one. "You're joking right? Why the hell would you want to summon _him_?"

Crossing his legs, Gaara turned to face the whiskered-boy fully. "I don't know…you tell me." He tapped a finger on his right-wrist.

* * *

It was nearly pass midnight when both 'brothers' finally decided to head back.

"How's your arm?" Once reaching the end of the cliff, both took a road down the forest.

Pulling his wrist up, Naruto showed him how it twitched when he tried to bend his hand. "The nerves seem fine…" he answered in a pained hiss as he tried to turn the joint, "…though the pressure on the arm turned out to be a pain. It was better off when I didn't felt a dam thing."

"The fact that you feel is enough to say the least. Be grateful that it is healing."

Sending mental daggers at the know-all red-head, Naruto wished he had something close to a bat in his hands…so he could… …

"Don't even think about it." as if knowing what he was thinking, the red-head warned, making the blond scream in rage.

* * *

Sitting on the hospital bed, Naruto waited while Tsunade checked his wrist.

"Ok. It is healing well and fast. By tomorrow it'll still hurt a bit, but you should already be able to bend your fingers." she assured.

Nodding, Naruto then arched a brow as the silence spread about. Focusing his senses on the woman, he stilled as she just stared at him.

"What's the matter?"

Startled, Tsunade blinked and shook her head. "Nothing. Too many broken memories."

Naruto frowned at that, quickly understanding that the woman remembered the other boy in him. "Hate to break it to ya, Grandma-Tsunade, but I'm _not_ the same Naruto that you knew."

A bit shocked by the familiarity in the nickname, instead of snapping – Tsunade broke into a revealed smile and brushed a strand of hair out of the blond's face. "You don't know how wrong you are, child. You are exactly the same…" Naruto flinched involuntarily as she placed a hand onto his heart, "…right here."

Standing up from her stool, Tsunade took the opportunity of the lost boy's confused state and reached to untie the knot of the blindfold – taking it off.

Naruto blinked as the blindfold fell into his lap and he turned his eyes upwards to where he felt her breathing.

"Don't blink." Placing her hand onto his chin, Tsunade turned his head into the direction of the light and used her thumb and forefinger to open one of his eyes wider so she could take a better look at it.

"Various spots on your pupils are split and torn." turning her attention on the other eye, her brows furrowed, "Seems that the green rings around them uphold venom of a dark chakra that flaw the vision. It's rotten." Taking into a note the falling tears from Naruto's eyes, she continued, "The pressure of the light creates small pins that the torn vessels cannot block and absorb, thus making your eyes water and unendurable to hold open for long." …

…'_I don't know how to heal it.'_ Sighing, she let him close his glassy orbs and reached over for a moist napkin – batting away his dirty hands and cleaning his eyes herself before picking up the blindfold. "Seems that your brother knows what he's doing once it comes to medical attention." she added, inspecting the fabric.

Coughing silently, Gaara turned to look to the other direction, keeping silent about the fact that he did not pick out that blindfold…, but then again it was similar to the one he previously did pick.

Tying the fold back on, Tsunade pulled out a bottle from her inner jacket's pocket and placed it on the night table with fresh napkins. "Every day or night when he wakes up or goes to sleep…_you_ are to make sure that he cleans his eyes," she instructed as she looked at the red-head who arched an 'invisible'-brow in question. "I'm leaving this up to you because I have a slight feeling that _he_ might not do it."

Naruto scowled and huffed, "…old wit-…GAAhh!!"

"I'll make sure of it." Gaara nodded, ignoring the whining blond rubbing his head from Tsunade's light slap that felt like a brutal punch.

Turning to leave, she halted and looked back at the red-head. "Hospital isn't a comfortable place for visitors. Maybe you should head home and get some sleep as well. You did stay up for three days while Naruto was unconscious…it was a relief that you at least fell on the fourth."

Shaking his head, Gaara merely said, "Former insomniac."

"Oh…" surprised, Tsunade didn't question further, just smiled and headed for the door. "Well then…I'll see you two tomorrow. Goodnight."

"I hope your bedbugs bite!" grumbled Naruto after the closed doors.

* * *

The next morning…

Putting on dark pants and an orange short-sleeved shirt, Naruto inspected his right arm once more, unable to get used to the fact that it can move (with an annoyingly painful feeling though) but can't maintain a drop of his chakra, not even the demon's chakra on which he has no more control. "I can lose it." he mumbled to himself, remembering how he almost destroyed the whole village with that chakra as it went loose.

"As long as your 'insane' emotions are calm it'll stay intact." handing him a wet napkin, Gaara didn't think those words helped much.

"'Hmph'," yanking the fabric out of Gaara's hold, Naruto poked him in the chest as he hissed, "If only _you_ were the one to talk! You and your mad rodent nearly killed me back in the Genin."

Rolling his eyes, Gaara went to sit on the bed. "Maybe…but I didn't understand emotions then; they were useless to me."

"Well ain't you just a _saint_!" mockingly praised Naruto, putting the used napkins away and tying the blindfold on.

Smirking, Gaara added for the reaction. "Oh and by the way – compared to you…, I didn't even come close to annihilating the whole Konoha population."

"You!!" snapping, Naruto jumped and tackled the red-head on the bed…

…just then the doors opened and the intruders froze at the sight of Naruto straddling Gaara and clenching his shirt in a way which looked as if he was trying to rip it off for many 'twisted' reasons…

"Interrupting anything?" a fine brow rose on the black-haired Sannin's face as he absorbed their position.

"Huh?!"

"What a shame…, should have waited about ten minutes before coming here," hiding a smirk, disappointingly sighed the second Sannin, "…then at least we could have seen some _action_."

"Shut your goddamn hole, pervert!" growled Naruto, "It's not what it looks like!"

Sniggering while Jiraiya blinked at the quickly earned nickname, Orochimaru turned on his heels and pushed the other out of the room, before leaving himself he said, "The preparations are done. We shall all meet at the front gates. Be there in an hour after you're…_done_."

"AARrrgh…" another vase went crushing against the door.

* * *

"The preparations? You mean they _actually_ went through the 'trouble' of allowing us a field for the summon? What are they…nuts?" wondered Naruto as he walked one step at a time on the thin electrical wire. Sun was just beginning to rise up as they were on their way to meet up with the old-coats.

"Frankly, I don't give a damn what they're thinking…as long as it is done." uncaringly replied Gaara walking on the second wire parallel to Naruto's. "And if you must know…they have no idea about the summon."

"You didn't tell them?"

"No."

"Wh-…No! Forget it! …I don't care."

"Hn."

Stuffing his hands in pockets, Naruto exhaled. "You know… incidentally, the time is kind a convenient for his appearance…"

Gaara's eyes opened and he looked at him.

"…After all, he did ask me to do it on the ninth."

Finally arriving to the now fixed gates, both 'brothers' jumped from the wires and advanced the awaiting people.

The closer they came the more did Naruto's pace lessen. A frown emerged onto his face as the smell of too many unwelcomed personalities startled him to the punch. To walk the long miles besides the 'destined' five from the gathered bunch, which consisted of the Hokage, Gaara's 'siblings', Gennou, the Sannin, land lord, three familiar Anbu (Itachi, Kakashi, Shisui), Minato and Nagato, Naruto wondered if he'll be able to hold still…

Catching him slow down, Gaara turned to his depressed friend reassuringly. "Just calm down… they won't do anything to us."

Groaning inwardly, Naruto clenched his hands inside the pockets and sighing picked the pace back up.

"Morning!" smiled Sarutobi as he greeted the two boys who nodded to him.

"So this is the famous Naruto, huh? Glad to see you back on your feet so fast." Kankuro step up with Temari, introducing themselves, "The name's Kankuro by the way. And this is my sister Temari."

Smiling due to politeness, Naruto inclined his head, "I know who you both are, the users of wind-fan and puppetry."

The siblings raised their brows in slight surprise. "Seems that we're not such strangers to you as we thought we would be." Temari smiled, "It's nice to finally meet you, Naruto-kun."

Naruto grinned, "Likewise, Temari-sama, Kankuro-san."

"Well… we should probably get going then, while no-one _else_ saw us yet," suggested Gennou, glancing sharply at the trees for a few seconds before moving through the gates with others following closely.

Just as they left, curious shadows jumped on the spot where the others previously stood. Sharing a quick look between themselves they all darted into the forest.

"The young ones are so pry." suddenly spoke a bored voice of a plant-like-creature emerging from the same ground which seemed to be to everyone's liking.

"Maybe we should investigate this further?" a darker voice suggested to its other half.

"That we should," intervened a new voice, coming from the gang appearing behind the submerged Zetsu.

* * *

Stopping for a moment, Naruto frowned in curiousness and turned to the direction of the surrounding trees. Catching the scent of the hidden, he sneered but resumed his pace anyway.

"How long?" Naruto then asked Gaara the question which meaning he quickly understood.

"Since the village's walls," indifferently replied the red-head, referring to the following nins hiding in the shadows.

"I didn't expect them to be this curious."

"That's an understatement."

"No, that's paranoia."

Interrupting the teens' whispers by a stop of their long journey from the village, Sarutobi looked up into the field. "I hope this is sufficient?"

Brushing pass and forward, Gaara took in the wide clearing field surrounded by on the one side – the forest's trees border and the other – a huge lake. "It's fine." shortly he confirmed and grabbed Naruto's wrist, pulling him with and walking into the middle of the clearing, while the others stayed by the forest's side and awaited what they will do.

Leaning against one of the many trees, Nagato suddenly reached out and elbowed it's branch with such force that the whole tree shook and something actually fell out of it…something that groaned as it contacted with the hard ground.

Opening his eyes, Nagato glared at the bunch of lying piled teens, "What are you doing here?"

"What does it look like?" groaned Kiba, pushing heavy Choji off of him and standing up. "Taking out the dogs for a spin."

"If only," sniggered Gennou before looking onto the other direction, "You can tell your students to come out as well, Orochimaru. The summon might not like such disrespectful approaches."

"Summon?!" the Hokage, the Sannin, Nagato and basically everyone else looked at the old-man in bewilderment.

'_They wouldn't…' _basically Minato already figured out what stood behind that word, but hoped to doubt himself.

"Oopss…was I not supposed to say that?!" looking sheepish now, Gennou took a step back, "Didn't Gaara tell you what the clearing was for?"

"Not specifically." hissed Jiraiya.

"Oh…and you actually gave it to him without a thought?"

"He said that the necessary amount of the field shall benefit to Naruto's chakra control revival. He has to perform the technique here." Minato recalled.

"Did he now?" playing the dumb ignorant, Gennou rubbed his chin. "Well in any case, it's pretty close to the truth. He _is_ going to perform a technique by using Naruto's blood, since the boy can't channel it himself, …yet the outcome might frighten the public…"

"What are they summing, Gennou?!" glaring on the chuckling old-man, painful torture was written all over Sarutobi's face.

By now everyone else that secretly followed revealed themselves – some appeared behind the Hokage while some stayed leaning on the tree branches. There were quite a lot under the count – the 'parallel', unformed Akatsuki; most of Naruto and Gaara's 'friends'; and Orochimaru's students.

"Oh my, how many guests we suddenly have." joyfully exclaimed Gennou, trying to evade the fuming Hokage and his questions by blabbing something useless.

"Gennou, if you will not tell me right now, I will…"

…A sudden blast occurring quickly snapped their attention into the middle of the field, where a huge smoke spread about and blinded the whole area in a thick fog.

Minato stared through the fog as his previous suspicion was confirmed by spotting the layout of the huge figure.

A light wave of the tail was all it took to dispel the fog and reveal the dangerous creature.

Those who had never witnessed the demon before did not take the sight quietly…

Suigetsu actually fell off the tree along with practically the rest of the peers, while the stoic, composed Sasuke had the expression of the forbidden emotions flashing through him as his eyes grew involuntarily wide. Same could be said for the famous "Akatsuki" members, who seemed to simply forget when was the time one has to breathe?!

Breathing in deeply, Kyuubi exhaled in content as his features broke into a fine, satisfactory smirk. "…the mortal world…"

* * *

_A/N_

_!!  
__It's not even pass two chapters yet & the story's new name is already under the rails….  
_…_Didn't quite expect that coming.  
__Very well! I'll ask ya – need I change the title back the way it was?  
__!!_

_Huge thanx for the reviewsXDD:_ Whiteinu1, Talia Gea, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Rosbam, diaryanjo, Anave Lipad, narubby23, Orannis4, minyaka14 & Hyarou!


	22. Chapter 22

'_**Chapter 22'**_

* * *

A proud grin broke through Naruto's face as he straightened atop the huge creature. The feeling of complete control surged through his entire being, as a close familiarity to his lost power raised adrenalin till the highest point.

"Alright Kyuubi…" the blond's mischief increased as he prepared to shout 'retribution', "…let's bring down Hell on Kono-mrmhmm…"

"Idiot!" growled Gaara, breaking Naruto's vivid declaration of war by shutting his mouth. "Don't taunt the darn beast before he actually goes on and does it."

Kyuubi heaved in a light chuckle as the two children started bickering above his head and took his time to gaze downwards. His smirk only widened at the sight of many shocked, bewildered, angry and cautious faces staring back at him. ""

'_Such a repulsive flesh.'_

He snorted at the thought of humans before his sharp eyes landed upon the fidgeting form of an old man with spectacles. "You look old, _vessel of Shukaku_." the demon grumbled out abruptly.

Gennou's brows furrowed at his superior. "Didn't know it was sufficient to change my appearance for your arrival…, _Kyuubi_." he hissed the name out like poison.

Kyuubi's eyes glinted as he caught the man clench and unclench his fists repeatedly as small swirls of sand began picking up. Rising deep chuckle from his throat, Kyuubi bared his sharp fangs. "Seems that even age can't keep it all locked in, can it, Gennou? For how long has all that power of yours been suppressed? …hundred? …two hundred?! Don't you think it's time to let it loose? Perhaps…" turning to look at the Hokage, his mocking smirk spread about, "…on the _Leaf_?"

"Make one step towards the village, you savage, and we won't hesitate before unleashing force." Sandaime growled in warning.

"…Force? …On me? If only that were to your ability, shinobi of the Leaf." Snarling at them in disgust, Kyuubi straightened up fully to his feet, making most of the teens shrink and step back at the highly towering form. "You _humans_ hold ill-considerance above everything other than your own kind. You are pathetic. Maybe unloading a little provocation onto your lands will give your consciousness more than enough understanding that nothing ever resolves around you?!" Looking above the nins and far over the forest, Kyuubi quickly spotted the village, which, to his great delight, was under a heavy renewal stage. "However…, I'm pleased to see that there appears no more need for it."

Before Sarutobi could scream in outrageous burst, Minato stopped in front of him, "We haven't come here for useless brawl, Nine-Tails."

"Why are you all here then?" he hissed at the blond man.

"To make sure everything flows fluent. There is only one purpose of your summonsing."

Kyuubi arched his brow. "It would be diverting to hear your orders in the given situation…" he spoke, sending shudders down the spine, before adding under a grin, "…however, it exceeds your judgments."

'_It's for Naruto to decide.'_

Looking up at the two teens, who had grown silent for quite some time, Minato wondered if, under the given chance, 'brothers' were actually debating the thought of allowing the demon attack them on his free rage or not; for, because of Konoha's own stupidity, Naruto and Gaara now held all the needed power to annihilate the whole village.

Naruto's opinion they didn't even need to hear…, …further than the fact that that same boy was the beast's henchman, who had the whole control over it.

A brief questioning glance they caught Gaara send his 'brother' began to unnerve them. _'Is this all a double-cross Gaara set us on?' _Minato quickly shook his head from that thought.

"What deception! Did they actually trick us into this whole summon from the beginning?" growled the Sannin as they prepared for an attack the demon, not to mention Naruto, looked all too willing to unleash.

'_I wonder.' _Kyuubi's smirk turned into a mad grin as he waited for Naruto's demands.

Gaara mentally groaned as he looked warily at the scowling Naruto. _'All it'll take is one whisper from him and Kyuubi will wipe out the existence. Perfect! It's just what I need! Summoning that demon turns out to be the same thing as giving Naruto his power back with red target set directly on the village.'_ Gaara tried hard not to yell at the idiotic outcome._ 'If this is going to turn out to be the second worst decision since coming here, I'll snap.'_

"Heh… breathe, Gaara, or you'll suffocate." Gaara was brought out of his musing by Naruto's light snigger.

"Don't worry about it!" turning to the tense red-head with an innocent grin, Naruto assured him, albeit dejectedly, "As tempting as it may all sound, I won't command him to attack…" Receiving a murderous glare at that he quickly added, "…and eat…" -the glare intensified- "…or kill…" -a growl escaped- "Alright already! I won't say a darn thing! God, can't a guy even snap a joke!?"

"Tch, cheeky brat," snorting, Gaara crossed his arms and spoke to get the demon's attention. "Aside from the fact that you told Naruto to summon him on the ninth day yourself, there is something that _I_ want to ask of you."

Kyuubi's eyes narrowed as they turned to look at the red-head from the corners. "Does it has something to do with the missing source in his arm?"

Gaara was slightly impressed. "Mostly. …We need your help."

Shifting his heavy gaze onto the blond, the fox-demon growled. "What did you do, imprudent boy?"

Hissing at the remark, Naruto 'hmph'-ed and turned his back to him. _'As if you don't already know!'_ "Nothing."

Glaring at the bold boy's back, Kyuubi huffed and abruptly brought his massive foot up. _'So be it…'_

The shinobi began to freak out as the beast's sharp claws were suddenly raised above them, and they quickly took their defense-stances…; however, that turned out as a rather awkward action in the end, since the demon merely scowled at them and used that foot to turn his body around.

"Leave!" a harsh, demanding grumble from the Nine-Tails awoke the confused nins who stared with weird expression after the leaving beast, not even registering the huge tails that swung over their heads as Kyuubi turned his back to them. "The smell of humankind is too obnoxious to bear."

Finding his voice first, Sarutobi barked, "Where do think you're going?!"

"I detest your presence." replied Kyuubi in an unfriendly manner, looking at each one of them in criticism. "So till I am barred from killing you, the least you can do is get out of my sight."

"It is not your place to stand, _fox_!"

"I oppose to that."

"This is definitely interesting." Despite the suffocating atmosphere filled with fury, fright, concern, jealousy and many other emotions, the Fire Lord felt greatly amused with the whole ordeal.

"Where are you taking them?" worried, Temari stepped forward.

"Nowhere that secret." grunted the demon and turned away from them once more. "Begone! I'm going to tend to the boy and expect nothing other than tranquil. If you intervene in my space, I won't hesitate to kill."

"You're taking too many liberties, Nine-Tails." said Minato in a similar voice, "Just like you always had."

Scowling at the man, Kyuubi barred his teeth. "I have my reasons, …_Yondaime_." He used the same mocking tone for the tease that Naruto had when he spat his 'father's' position.

Minato rapidly began to hate that name, even though it was not official to him yet. Clenching his fists into his pockets, he subdued his raging breath the best he could and inhaling suddenly said in a calm manner, "Don't take them further than the lake's border. This place is confined with seals that unleash internal damage on the body if crossed."

"Minato! What are you doing?!" Sarutobi and the others turned to look at the Namikaze in shock.

"You have only one day for the area's adoption. During which no shinobi will be allowed to enter it." Taking no notice of the looks, Minato kept glaring at the demon that glared back. "The area is at least 50 hectare wide. Do as you please with it, just do not cross the barrier."

"Are you out of your mind?!" growled Shisui, "You can't possibly be thinking of allowing that…that…_thing_…walk the woods like it pleases… Even if it is for just _one_ day. Those damn seals probably won't even be able to hold that thousand ton of living meat!"

Kyuubi's brows furrow in rage, but he restrained himself from snapping the black-haired nin's head off for he felt a light brushing touch on his back which made his fur rise…. Seemingly like a compassionate touch of the young-blond's hand but too incomprehensible for him to understand whatever for.

"He's right. We can't just let them out of our sight like that, Minato. No matter what feelings you harbor towards Naruto, you have to consider the safety of others as well. Furthermore, you _know_ that kid's not quite stable yet." scowled Jiraiya, missing a twitch in Minato's eye at his big-mouth and now much more calculating and curious looks directed towards them both.

'_Feelings?! Towards Naruto?!'_ "Is there something we're…missing?" asked Deidara as he stared at Minato, who was by now glaring at the Sannin.

"You have little faith in my decisions, sensei." grumbled Minato, ignoring the others. "Gaara has already warned me about the possible outcomes that may occur during Naruto's healing period and gave me his word to prevent the back-blow if it is to come. And I'll hold him to it.  
I know you'll disagree on it, but whatever that happens with them from now on end shall be my responsibility to carry. Besides, we have to get the demon's trust somehow. That beast is the only thing that can help Naruto now… as inadmissible as it sounds."

"It's reckless, Minato," warned Orochimaru.

'_I know that…' _closing his eyes, Minato heaved in a tired sigh, "It's only for today. Just give them time."

"Let's go," whispered Gaara to the demon and set beside Naruto.

Looking at Minato once more, Kyuubi 'hm'-ed and suddenly a gush of wild wind enfolded the whole area, blinding the others with floating sand and making them cover their eyes. As soon as it all stopped, the demon and 'brothers' were gone.

"This is totally nuts! What a hell is happening to this idiotic world?! I demand an explanation!" growled Shisui, trying to suppress himself from kicking the ground with his foot.

Tipping his hat down, the Hokage looked at Minato from the eye's corner. "Are you sure of this trust you have for the boy?"

'…_no…' _not meeting the man's gaze, Minato closed his eyes and disappeared.

'_Ah…stubborn prick.' _shaking his head, Nagato followed suit.

"Darn you, you slippery-worm, Minato! Don't you dare escape from me again!" yelled Shisui before disappearing in pursuit of the Namikaze for some answers he's been trying to get for the past week.

Frowning at the situation, Kakashi and Itachi turned around and prepared to leave as well, but both froze as a group of unformed Akatsuki members blocked their way.

"Explain!" came a low hiss from the group that had no idea of what's going on.

The two Anbu shared a look.

"Seems that everything's just getting thicker by the minute. Heh…Maybe it's time for us to try and have a little talk with Minato-sama, don't you think so too?" grinned Suigetsu, looking pass his shoulder at the figure sitting on the branch.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed before a smirk spread over his face. "You can try. Though I'm sure you'll end up sooner dead before receiving a word from him."

Huffing, Suigetsu crossed his arms. "'Hmph'! If I didn't know better, _Uchiha_, I'd say you already knew what's going on."

A thin brow shot up but otherwise Sasuke stayed quiet.

"If you want to prey for information, Suigetsu – Kakashi and Sasuke's brother are not so clueless on this matter." added Kimimaro. "That could be an easiest way out."

All three gazed at the ebony-haired Anbu, standing rather afar from them, and frowned as they spotted him share a quickly look with Kakashi before disappearing and leaving a very frustrated group of fuming and cursing men, who disappeared in order to follow them.

"If only." pouted the informed-less Suigetsu before he grinned and elbowed a stoic brown-haired Hyuuga standing not too far from his side. "Too deep in thought over there. You ok?"

"Fine."

"Nice! …Seriously though, man, is something wrong?"

Sending a disdainful look at the grinning fool, Neji grunted, leaning against a tree. "Nothing out of the ordinary. There's just something very peculiar about that boy _Naruto_…"

"Aside from the fact that he's totally hot?!" Suigetsu smirked as he wiggled his eyebrows.

The _Byakugan_ user's eye twitched, though he couldn't say he disagreed with him. "No. Weren't you spending your time ogling him, you'd know by now that his chakra…is the same as that demon's."

"What?!" the others closest to him blinked in surprise.

"Not only that… I know by his smell that I've met him somewhere before," Kiba added while petting trembling Akamaru on the ground. "The aura is too familiar, but it didn't contain demonic scent within it like it does now. …Strangely, it reminds me of Nami-…"

"Tch… who the hell cares?! Those two freaks, be they human or demon, can-OOF…" whatever it was that Kidoumaru wanted to say was furiously knocked out of his head as a fist suddenly collided with his face so hard that he went crushing against the tree that cracked from the impact and made the other teenagers scatter away from it.

"Open that rotten mouth of yours again and you'll be living your life without a head!"

The agape teens stepped aside as fuming Temari walked pass them, and alongside her brother and Gennou left the area.

"Ahh… what a hell did I say wrong?" slurred Kidoumaru, trying to get up to his feet.

"There's some huge mystery going around here." mumbled Suigetsu, watching the two siblings disappear into the forest. "The Kazekage shouldn't be so protective of her underlings."

"So far those two are anything but that to her," said Shikamaru, rubbing his neck. "Don't you remember the looks on the council's face after their first meeting?"

"Why such long faces, you beautiful devils?" the teenager group quickly looked up as two Sannin suddenly stepped in front of them. "What's wrong? Something the matter?"

"Other than the fact that now we have a loose blood-lusting vulture walking around the woods at nights?! …no." mumbled Shikamaru as if the obvious.

"Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha… Come on, it's nice for a change." laughed Jiraiya.

"If ever!" growled Kiba, more from the concern of his frightened dog than anything else. "Ok, it's understandable that those guys are shinobi of the Sand and now official allies of our village, but summoning the most fierce among demons, whose claws are probably bigger than my whole damn household, just for a simple _chat_…!? God, is that even normal?!"

"You'll just have to get used to it," smirking added Orochimaru.

"That's not very comforting…"

"Alright everyone!" said Sarutobi, startling the others with his abrupt harsh voice. "Leave the area, right now!"

* * *

Appearing right on the other side of the huge lake, Gaara spotted the small figures just as they all left.

Sighing at the now fresh air unfettered by man's presence, Kyuubi set his body down and turned his eyes upwards to stare at Naruto.

Understanding the demon's unspoken request, Naruto jumped off of his head and landed with a heavy foot in front of his paws.

Watching their strange interaction, Gaara sighed and got himself comfortable.

Few minutes went by under a deadly silence as Kyuubi just stared at Naruto with unblinking narrow eyes.

Just when Gaara thought he's going to die from boredom, Kyuubi abruptly opened his mouth wide and suddenly an enormous blast was shot from it which slammed right upon bewildered Naruto.

"Huh!?!"

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM…**

The fierce force shot Naruto of his feet and about two miles away from the Nine-Tails and his wide-eyed 'brother' before it slammed him to the ground with such intensity that created another loud explosion.

"What a hell did you do!?" Staring agape at the burned path the blast created, Gaara jumped off the demon's head and quickly rushed to his 'brother'.

Watching the red-head run off, Kyuubi 'tsk'-ed and sighing lay his head on his front paws, closing his eyes for a moment of peace.

Finally stopping by the place that suffered the most damage, Gaara took in lightly pants while staring at the mass of still falling rocks and a huge hole that soon revealed itself behind the dark smoke.

Jumping without a thought into the hole, he slid down its side and landed onto the ground.

"Naruto?" standing up, he hurried over to the lying form of his unconscious-looking friend and kneeled beside him.

Coughing and cursing at the lazily disappearing dust, Gaara gathered Naruto into his arms and jumped out of the suffocating smoke-filled area.

The majority part of Naruto's clothes were burned and ripped to shreds; lots of angry scars marked his body and released rather deep trails of dark blood, though to Gaara's relief they seemed to begin healing, even though _very_ slowly.

Pressing his hand over the pulse, Gaara made sure the teen was indeed alive, which proved him right when the blond began coughing suddenly. Helping him sit up, Gaara sighed in relief as the blond started hissing and mumbling silent curses while rubbing his sore head.

"I would gladly kill that thing, weren't he so damn big and _I_ in so much pain."

"What happened? What did he do?"

"…He said he's gonna revive my chakra." grumbled the blond, flinching as he tried to move his muscles and stand. "But so far all he did revive is immense _suffering _in my blasted body."

Exhaling, Gaara helped the huffing blond up. "Is that why you were both silent for the past ten minutes…, because you came to a mental agreement?"

"Yeah… The damn fox finally realized it's possible for us to communicate internally. Though it _still_ didn't occur to him to first warn me that he's gonna blast me through the whole damn forest so as to 'heal' me!!"

Finally straightening to his feet with the majority help from the red-head, Naruto took in a deep breath and clenched his fists. "Ok…, _now_ I'm gonna kill him!" he growled in revenge and prepared to charge at the stupid fox-demon, but suffered an embarrassing fall onto his face instead as his still sore muscles screamed in pain.

"Keep that up, and you'll _definitely_ succeed." wisely said the red-head, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up."

* * *

Finally feeling the retrieving presence of both boys, Kyuubi opened his eyes. "So…" he began, examining the barely standing, yet lividly fuming Naruto up and down, "…how do you feel? Relieved…? Satisfied…? Perhaps aroused…?!"

"Try pissed off, perverted-mammal!" hissed the blond. "Couldn't you at least give me the heads-up instead of whacking me into oblivion right off the bat?!"

"Now why would I do that? Had I told you to be ready for getting shot by thousand folds of chakra, you would've wetted your pants and demanded annoying hours before getting yourself ready for it. This way it was done fast, with easy and without much damage."

"Without damage!? That's it! I'm gonna _pulverize_ you!!"

"Heh…You can _try_, midget." smirked the fox and rose to his feet in challenge.

Paling at the cold breeze that the huge shadow brought as it cover the sun, Naruto closed his wide mouth and decided to simply twist the position to his profit. "Tch…" crossing his arms, he huffed in nonchalance, "Why bother. So far it's apparent that arguing with _you_ is pointless!"

"That's because you know I'm _always_ right." smuggle informed Kyuubi, adding last sentence just for the tease, "And you're _not_."

"AAarghh!! I'm gonna poke your eyes out while you're not looking!"

"Fascinating logic, you _malodorous-rat_!"

"What'd you call me?!!"

"Shut up already!!" uncovering his ears, Gaara finally snapped. "Sit down!" grabbing Naruto's shoulder he forced him to do just that, though Naruto had to re-catch himself so as to not crush into the ground because of his still startled state at the red-head's outburst.

Placing his hands into his pockets, Gaara turned his glare at the demon. "Now…what did you just do to him? Why isn't his chakra still intact?" he demanded explanations, getting straight to the point.

"Hn…you think it's so easy to revive ones loss of such price?" lying back on the ground, Kyuubi elaborated, "It's not exactly definite but it'll take three days at minimum for my cells to fully fix his chakra system. There shall be pain at times while he's healing, but considering that he's already adapted to my chakra, he'll have it much lesser than anyone else would've had."

"Was that blast really necessary?"

"For my chakra cells to invade yours, they _must_ have been shot under enormous force, which helped embedding them in direct places at the exactly same time. That's how you got these." he said, nodding towards Naruto's scars all over his body. "Those scars are not casual."

"That's assuring." groaning, Naruto pouted before quickly mumbling out, "…thankyou…"

Smirking, Kyuubi questioned in arrogance, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

'_Stupid animal!' _twitching, Naruto grit out, "I said, _you deaf bloody being_ – thank you!"

"Hn." _'Of course you did.'_

'_MAN, I _hate_ you!!'_

* * *

Standing atop the 'Hokage Mountain', Minato frowned as he stared at the distant mass of flouting smoke rise above the far forest.

Coming to stand by his side, Nagato rubbed his forehead. "Whatever it is that they are doing is probably going to require some major amendments after. We'll just have to hope the forest shall still be intact by tomorrow."

Smiling at the thought, Minato shook his head. "Never did I think that positioning the village under such a dangerous situation will it give me such thrills of great relief." Looked down, he watched in light amusement as the panicked villagers, who also heard the distant blast, started gossiping between one another.

"Weren't Naruto your son, you wouldn't have had them then."

Both suddenly flinched as something fell out of the tree behind them and crushed to the ground with a startled, "What?!" Glancing over their shoulders, the two elders frowned at the lying pile of wide-eyed Shisui, Deidara and Hidan.

Sending Nagato a glare, Minato hissed, "You just had to open your big mouth, didn't you? You knew very well that they were there!"

Hiding in a smirk, the orange-haired turned his eyes elsewhere. "Who? Me? No…"

Scowling, Minato crossed his arms, "Alright, enough already. Come on all out!" Feeling the twitch in his eye intensify by each person appearing, Minato palmed his face with a tired groan. "I ought to kill you right now, Nagato."

Rubbing his hair nervously, Nagato chuckled and turned around to run away, yet flinched as Minato's heavy hand fell onto his shoulder.

"I'm not dealing with this all alone, you skunk."

* * *

"But sensei…" Deidara discontented, "…why didn't you ever mention him to us? Surely we could have helped back then." sitting now with the unformed Akatsuki members in the Hokage office, Minato leaned against the desk while the others stared at him with slight betrayal in their eyes as he told them the 'tale'.

"He thought it was for the best," intruded the slightly angered voice of the Uchiha leaning against the window behind him.

Narrowing his eyes at the indirect accusations, Minato said, "Everything has boundaries, Itachi." looking pass his shoulder, Minato continued in a firm voice, "I thought that I taught you better. You _can't_ expect everything to happen just like you want it to."

"What does expectation has to do with secrecy?" glared Itachi, boring holes into blue eyes. "You _lied_ to me, father!"

"And I'm glad I did!" hissing deeply, the blond shut the young Uchiha's further spats. "I told you before… – my life is _not_ something to be taken lightly. Since the day I became a ninja I have gained more enemies than I have acquaintances." turning his gazed at Kakashi, who looked too scared to say anything in return, blue eyes settled back on black coal, "If the world found out I had a son, he would have become the main target of not only my adversaries, but the _council_ as well."

Itachi's eye lightly winced at that, remembering the similar happening to him before Minato pulled him out of their claws.

"Were any one of you told about Naruto, you would've become same as him… – a simple target to the vultures that spread about." looking pointedly at the rest, he continued. "I knew that sooner or later, someone will find out about him, and getting you tangled along in this situation is something I wanted to evade at all cost. And don't even _think_ that you could've been able to protect him at that time, you would just be insignificant in the fight."

"We're no weaklings, Minato! You know better than anyone." cutting in, Hidan slammed his scythe against the floor.

Unfazed by the angry looks he produced, Minato straightened up, "That's right. I do. And that's why I'm telling you that even at your present levels, you would've withstood no chance against my enemies. I'm not saying this to mock you, I'm saying this because it is a fact." sending them all a warning look, Minato emphasized, "And don't you now _dare_ say that everything I do is something of my own selfishness." at that he glancing pointedly at Itachi.

As silence, spread around, Minato's eyes lightly lidded seeing Itachi's lower. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you, Itachi…, but it was for your as well as my own good."

"Minato-sensei!" Everyone jumped as Obito suddenly marched into the office shouting. "I hav-…?!…?!…What a hell are you all doing here?" the brown-haired quickly stopped as he almost ran into Sasori's back.

"Don't bother questioning. You wouldn't understand anyways, Tobi." dismissingly waved Deidara.

Hiding a smug smirk behind the pout, Obito mumbled something unintelligent and forced himself through.

Stopping in front of the Namikaze, he handed him a scroll, "Sensei, the Tsuchikage has contacted the lands' council and demands to withstand an urgent meeting between five nations."

Blinking at the sudden news, Minato frowned in thought, "Whatever does the Earth country want with this?"

"They found out about brothers and the summon."

* * *

Trying to open his eyes only to find them unable to because of the darn blindfold, Naruto quickly sat up at the feel of wind's strange smell blowing in his face from time to time and froze in confusion as he came in contact with something soft and hairy supporting his back. "Why do I always wake up in the most weirdest of places?" _'And what the hell was I doing sleeping anyways?!'_

"How do you feel?" Gaara's abrupt voice startled him.

"Eh?"

"You passed out." simply explained the red-head, making the blond's mind pounder it ever happening. "Been doing quite a lot of that lately."

"I did?" scratching his abashed head, Naruto asked further, "What time is it?"

"Could be about six or seven in the morning." standing in front of him, Gaara examined Naruto's body thoroughly, taking into a note a very weak link slowly awakening his inner control. "I guess after yesterday's 'healing' event your body just shut itself down from exhaustion again."

"I've been out of it through the whole damn day?!" barked surprised blond. "When the hell did that happen?!"

"Tch."

"No-one asked for your opinion, flea-bag!!" he pointed at the snarling thing that's been breathing on him and on what he's been apparently sleeping on.

"Hm…like I care." mumbled Kyuubi, opening his mouth for a huge yawn. "Having you as a container must have been real pain. I feel sorry for my-dimensional-self."

"Oh yeah!? Well at least _you_ didn't have to share mental images of _some_ of us here licking their balls."

"What was that?!" roared Kyuubi.

"You want me to reiterate?!"

"Why you little…"

Palming his face, Gaara groaned as the two began barking at each other again. _'Too early…it's too damn early!'_

Feeling a sudden aura of someone coming, Gaara uncovered his eyes and looked up just as Gennou appeared.

Spotting his wanted and sending Kyuubi a dark look, Gennou greeted the two boys between the demon's front paws with a smile. "Hey, you two! So how's things been so far?"

"Annoying…" grumbled Naruto, throwing mental daggers at Kyuubi, who just kept observing the old-man from above. "Anyways, what are ya doing here, Gramps?"

"Making sure the carnivore over there has not done anything to you…"

"As if your presence would make much difference even if I did." retorted Kyuubi. "Why are you _really_ here, vessel? Surely you wouldn't have wasted your time coming here just for a simple 'check' on the boys. You _know_ fully well that I cannot harm them."

Frowning, Gennou crossed his arms. "Perhaps. May I speak with them…alone?"

"Hn," leaning his head to the side, Kyuubi closed his eyes while 'brothers' made their way towards the old-man.

Leading them closer to the forest and farther from Kyuubi, Gennou's calm expression fell and he turned to regard the two boys without hesitation, "In two days time, a meeting between five nations shall take place in the Hidden Rock Village. And its main matter shall be resolved on you two."

"Magnificent," crossing his arms, Naruto scowled in disinterest, "Anything else?"

Shaking his head at the boy's ignorance, Gennou continued, "Glad that you find this amusing, Naruto. In any case, I came to warn you.  
I don't know how things went in your end, but in this world the ones who always envied Leaf and Sand for their power and alliance were Rock, Mist and especially Cloud. These three nations shall not be pleased when they'll find out that Suna, as well as partly Konoha, now holds something that could be closely regarded as their 'ultimate weapons'.  
Moreover, when the council of Sand itself will come to the shocking realization that you're supposed to be their 'property', who do not even know about your very existence…, they'll conclude that Temari's been "hiding" you behind their backs, and your unknown personalities shall only raise further doubts to Sand country's higher-ups, not to mention the rest of the Leaf's higher-ups as well…, and that however will most likely derive you to a 'probation', which you shall be forced to take in order to prove loyalty towards the two villages. Otherwise, no matter what the leaders of the country say, you shall be doomed to an _execution_…or, if Sand and Leaf declines that judgment upon you, they will be obliged to _sell_ you to one of the other three Great Countries."

Opening his eyes, Gennou flinched as he saw the two boys almost killing him with their suffocating auras and dark looks.

Naruto's teeth clenched. "Sell us?"

Fixing his glasses, Gennou didn't drop the seriousness in his voice, "Yes. Sell you…, _if_ you decide to deceive your loyalty towards one of these two villages (be it Sand or Leaf)."

Taking in a deep breath, Naruto clenched his teeth to keep himself from snapping and dug his nails into his palms, trying everything to calm himself down. "Why are you always talking about us as if we're some_thing_ that must belong to someone? Are you insinuating…that I'm a tool, Gennou?"

Frowning at the boy's dead whispers, the elder tried to coax him to not go overboard. "No! Of course not. Naruto, you have to understand th-…"

"…That I can be twisted just like you want me to?"

Swallowing, Gennou shook his head in denial, getting unnerved by the fact that light sparkles of Naruto's fragile chakra began pouring out as his rising ire began surrounding the whole area. "That's not what I'm sayi-…"

"I know dam well what you're saying, …but mind this, Gennou! I might be a being, but I have a mind of my own!" growled Naruto, pointing at himself, "_I_ make my own decisions! And _I_ do _not_ bend to the wishes of the old-fools who have no notion of what consciousness is! They are nothing but _fucked up savages_!" sneering, Naruto turned his back as he prepared to leave. "…I have had enough!"

"You will have to endure this if you wish to survive! You have no other choice!" Gennou called after him.

"I was forced to survive since the day of my birth…" retorted the blond, stopping for just a brief moment, "There is _nothing_ more that could ever intimidate me!"

"Naruto…"

"Leave me!!"

Watching him disappear into the forest, Gaara's eyes lightly lidded as they glanced at Gennou who hung his head.

* * *

'_There is nothing… there is _nothing_!!' _snarling and hissing to himself, Naruto marched through the forest, overlooking every direction and path he made.

The only thing that made him stop and probe the area around was when a call from a group in his path was voiced.

"Well would you look at that?" smirked Suigetsu, "Knew I that such a fine being shall meet me in the dark scary woods, I would have brought sake to celebrate."

"Get out of my way, mongrel!" hissed Naruto, feeling more chakra pour out of his still unstable body.

"'Hmph', you would like that, wouldn't you?" mumbled Sakon, slowly sliding out two kunais.

"I am in no mood to deal with _you_. Go…away."

"Sad, but it's not gonna happen. For you see – you're just what we've been looking for."

'…_fools…'_ "Leave m-…!" cutting off his grit, Naruto flinched as thin wires suddenly surrounded him and entwined around his whole body before jerked him backwards as they tightened and pinned him to a tree.

"Thought that we'd forget our previous encounters?" said a rumbling voice advancing him, which Naruto recognized as Jiroubou's. "It's payback time, kid!" cracking his knuckles, he balled his fist and reached out to deliver a painful punch…

…though it ended up with Jiroubou receiving a punch instead as Naruto's foot collided with his face before he broke the strings and pushed him away.

"Argh, get him!" screamed Kidoumaru and charged at the blond with Sakon…

…Jumping up and flipping over the dark-skinned one, Naruto dodged Sakon's kunais and elbowed him into the nose, breaking it…

…grabbing then two weapons as they fell out of pale teen's fingers, Naruto turned around and threw them after Kidoumaru, who just turned around only to get two blades stab themselves into his shoulders and force him down.

Crouching low as Juugo came next with brutal swing of his fist, Naruto quickly knocked him off his feet and jumped away before he could grab him, yet cursed as Suigetsu appeared out of nowhere and tackled him to the ground.

Leaning down, the satisfyingly grinning one whispered into Naruto's ear, "I always wondered what you would feel like underneath m-Aahh…"

Kicking him into the cheek, Naruto turned their positions and slammed the taller teen's face into the ground, but cursed as a knee forced him off and over…

…quickly turning and grabbing the blond's ankle before he could crawl away, Suigetsu brought him back underneath himself and sat on his waist, grabbing the wrists before they could leave another fine mark. "Still as feisty as ever."

"Get off! Now." growling in warning, Naruto buckled his hips.

Suigetsu's smirk turned into a mad grin, "Oh please don't stop… that just adds to the _friction_." Grabbing tan wrists into one hand, he used the other to tease the limits as it began sliding down the thin body… "Being this close to someone as dangerous as you is just too thrilling to miss."

…And it was all that was necessary to jerk the limits as something suddenly slammed into his groin before kicking him off.

Rolling quickly to his feet, all Suigetsu then managed to perceive was a red chakra claw-like-hand open up before it grabbed him by the throat and forcefully pushed him into the tree with a loud crack.

Suigetsu didn't feel amused anymore, for the clawed-chakra began to tighten around his throat with no intentions of stopping.

"…ngh…n-…no…"

'…_nothing…'_ Naruto 'tsk'-ed as the demon's chakra kept pouring out of his outstretched hand on its own free will. _'…they can do nothing…'_

"…s…s-s-sto…p… …p……-pl-e…ss…" Suigetsu begin to seriously wheeze and choke. "…I…a…a-I can…'t…br-breathe…"

Naruto's frown intensified. "It's your own fault. I _told_ you, to leave me alone."

"… …a…a…nh…"

"Let him go." The sudden feeling of a sharp blade's tip press against the side of his neck, made Naruto still.

Turning his head slightly to the side, as if to look at the person standing behind him, Naruto scowled when he realized it's Sasuke. "I cannot do that." emotionlessly said Naruto and turned his whole attention back to the gasping teen.

"I'm not going to repeat myself." hissed the young Uchiha, pressing the blade harder against the blond's neck, producing a thin line of blood that went down the black-katana's length, though the blond stood still.

"I'm sorry, _Sasuke_, but your…_friend_, is going to die." clicking his tongue, Naruto continued, "For you see, I hold no more control above this source since I have none of my own. So whatever happens now – …I guess is just a matter of his endurance."

The sound of Suigetsu's short intakes following by throat's contraction induced Sasuke to react and his blade rose,

"Then you'll just have to endure this!" he hissed and forced the katana down upon the outstretched wrist…

…though he didn't predict for that red-chakra to form from the blond's fingers and shut itself out directly onto him. It would've pierced out his eye, weren't it for the sand that suddenly intervened and blocked it from stabbing him, before ruthlessly punching Naruto to the side, thus dispelling the hold on Suigetsu who fell to the ground unconscious.

Appearing before the blond, Gaara quickly commanded the sand to force his arms apart and hold him down pinned to the ground.

Gasping and hissing from the harsh punch he received, Naruto tried to struggle against the bonds holding him down, yet quickly dropped it as it turned out to be useless in the end, as well as the fact that the red-chakra subdued back into his body.

"No matter where you go, there is no such thing as 'serenity'." shaking his head, Gaara knelt beside the silently breathing blond and looked down on him. "Are you calmed now?" he asked, receiving a mute nod as an answer. "Will you still be if I release you?" frowning as this question required some hesitation from the blond, Gaara finally received another nod. "Do you promise?" Getting a blunt hiss at that, he kicked him lightly to the side, which made the blond huff and replay with a growled out 'yes'.

Sighing, Gaara stood up just as the sand sank back into the earth, and outstretched an offering hand to the blond. After pulling him up, he looked back at Sasuke and his regaining friends. "Sorry for the caused trouble. It won't happen again…" Not bothering to receive a word in return, he began pulling Naruto back into the forest, adding the last sentence as a warning, "…if you can teach them to keep their distance that is."

'_It's hard to believe that you're related to him, father.'_ Watching the blond leave with the red-head, Sasuke pondered his wise mind. Stopping by Suigetsu's lying body, he turned around and glared at the others. "I thought that it was made clear to not come close to them. What a hell were you thinking?"

Rubbing his sore cheek and stomach, Jiroubou quickly gave in, "It was Suigetsu's idea!"

* * *

Seeing both boys finally return back, Gennou stopped sending mental daggers at the calmly lying demon and tried to form a smile for Naruto.

Stopping in front of the old man, Naruto pocketed his hands and arched a skeptic brow, waiting for him to speak.

"I aaa…" rubbing his neck, Gennou looked at Gaara for any ideas of what he's supposed to be saying, but the red-head merely regarded him with an empty look. "…Sorry?"

"That could be a fine start," nodded Naruto.

Sighing, the elder fixed his glasses. "Look, I didn't mean to offend you when I said all those things that I did; …but as cruel as it might have sounded it had to be made clear. All I want is for you two to be aware of the facts that could await you if you do not play along. Labeling you as the shinobi of the Sand country had ensured you safety from the council, but now it's up to you to face the rest that comes with it. There is no way out of it anymore."

"Who said that I needed it? I never asked for _any_ of this!" Naruto spat.

"I know it is still hard for you to accept that you are forced to protect something you despised your whole life even in this world, further than the fact that you must now prove your loyalty towards it, …but please, for you and your brother's own sake I am begging you to endure and do as you are asked off. We just won't be able to undergo the guilt of watching you live your lives on the run, if you don't."

'_Guilt, huh…'_ Biting his tongue, Naruto tried not to laugh out at the twisted irony. _'Oh God, what are you doing to my life?' _Exhaling deeply, Naruto ran his fingers through his hair. _'I'm rather sure that after all this…I'm gonna go nuts.'  
_…Then after a long pause he said, _'Then again, I think I'm nuts already.'_ "Ok…fine. I'll play along."

Staring at him longer than necessary, Gennou asked, "Is that you who just said that?"

"You want me to take it back?" growled the blond, quickly losing his patience.

"No! No…that is fine. …Thank you! …And I'm really…really sorry."

"Tch…, I'm going for a swim," _'…before I end up killing something.'_ Naruto grumbled and walked to the lake, pulling off his shirt.

'_Ok…that went well.'_ breathing in deep relief, Gennou turned to Gaara. "Thank you for persuading him."

The red-head shook his head, "I had nothing to do with it. He just needed to vent that's all. For that you can say 'thanks' to the _snake's_ students."

"Snake's?" blinking at the name, Gennou frowned as the red-head merely walked away from him without a word or a 'goodbye' even.

"Freaking teens," cursing the impoliteness, Gennou looked at Kyuubi, who opened his eyes when he felt him staring.

"If that is all, vessel, then Get Lost!" he simply grunted and lid his eyes back close.

'_Such rudeness!'_ "Son of a-…'khem'! Fine!" clearing his own lewd mouth, Gennou turned and disappeared.

* * *

Sitting ashore, Naruto leaned onto his hands while lightly splashing water with his bare feet.

Coming to stand behind him, Gaara glanced at the seemingly sleeping Kyuubi before sitting next to his friend. After some time of peaceful silence between the two, he decided to break it. "Had a nice swim?"

"I've had better." shortly replied Naruto, leading them into the next stage of silence.

"How's the arm?"

"More lively, now that I can feel some chakra flowing through it. However it's still nowhere near enough for the decent control; and I won't even mention the annoying pain that comes with it. The damned fox, I'm gonna declare war to him soon."

"So far you're not going to be the only one in that field."

"I've noticed. What's the deal with Gennou and Kyuubi anyway? They seem close enough to despise each other."

"It's a simple fact…, subordinate demons just can't come to an understanding with their superiors, especially the ones who are highest in number." shrugged Gaara, "You already know that Shukaku detests Kyuubi, 'cause he is the most powerful of the nine."

"Yeah, but what does that has to do with anything?"

"Well, since Gennou was the carrier of the One-Tail's power, it seems that he inherited that hatred towards Kyuubi as well as his power. Shukaku's power is very fragile; it can break through if he stays too long in close proximity to the Nine-Tails. Unlike you and me, Gennou merged with Shukaku before the day of the solar-eclipse…, and although he didn't lose any of the limbs, he lost the stability that held and sustained the demon's power. Almost like you now."

Naruto would have blinked at Gaara, but instead his mouth set itself into a small agape. "What did you just say?"

Gaara frowned at the manner he asked the question, as if he discovered something. "What do you mean?"

"Did you just say Shukaku…_and_ Gennou…in one sentence?"

Gaara rolled his eyes as he skeptically replied, "No, I said it in ten sentences. What a hell's your point?"

"Gennou is the One-Tailed!?!"

Flinching at the loud yell, Gaara reached out to rub his neck, finally remembering that Naruto had no idea of Gennou being a half-demon. _'Kind of forgot about that.' _"Yes…, didn't you know?"

"NO!!"

"Well…you do now," clearing his throat the red-head continued enlightening. "Anyways, that was also the basic reason why he isn't a ninja or doesn't fight in battles anymore. – The old-man uses all of his own chakra to suppress Shukaku's power. It even happens every time you are around him…since you could be counted as the same Kyuubi."

"Well Bah!! That just adds to the damned collection. Jesus! What else do I need to know? That Jiraiya is married to Tsunade?"

"No…nothing else."

"Well ain't _that_ 'good'!" sarcastically grumbled Naruto and crossed his arms, feeling like pouting.

"Except maybe for the fact that Orochimaru is your godfather."

Blinking at the lack of sounds from the vivid blond, Gaara looking up, spotting Naruto stop breathing altogether and just stand there like a rock.

"…"

"………"

"…"

"…………"

After maybe one or two minutes the red-head began to feel rather uneasy.

"Naruto?"

"……………"

"You ok?"

"………………"

"Naru-…!!?" Gaara jumped suddenly, covering his ears at the loud scream of agony that followed…

* * *

_A/N_

_!!!  
Hi…, just wanted ta tell ya, that I'm placing the previous name of the story back. Don't really know why…, though I guess even though it was just a replacement at first – it should stay…  
!!!_

_**è **__Thank ya for the reviews:_ Talia Gea, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Kisanei, enchanted nightingale, BrokenBloodDrops, Whiteinu1, MadMonki, Anave Lipad, narubby23, diaryanjo, Saniwa, PirateCaptainBo, Yoko. no. unmei, darkfoxy28, shiro to kuro & That's Nice!!

_**è **__replies to chp #21:_

That's Nice – Thanx!XD Ya'll find out 'bout Nagato sometime later, right now it just won't do;))

shiro to kuro – Thanx!XD After this chp, you can say that Naruto's arm is almost fixed:))

darkfoxy28 – XD

Yoko. no. unmei – Hey!;)) No worries about the reviews, I'm glad that ya're reading the story. Thank ya!XD & yea, the connection Nagato will share with Naruto will surely be a surprise for him;)

PirateCaptainBo – XD thanx ya two!XDD

Saniwa – thank ya!XDD

diaryanjo – thank ya so much!XD

narubby23 – XDD

Anave Lipad – thanx!XD

MadMonki – twice a thanx to ya!XDD

Whiteinu1 – XDD

BrokenBloodDrops – XDXDXD

enchanted nightingale – thank ya!XD

Talia Gea – thanx!XD

Kisanei – things will slowly resolve;)) Thank ya for the review!XD ~

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – Yes, I am!;)) XD Anyways, thank ya so much for ya the review!XDD & have patience with me, which is necessary when it comes to this story;) ~

~ XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX & Kisanei – I guess I'm under a rather strange fever lately…, because I decided to renter the answer to ya & tell that I'm placing the story's previous name back in its place.  
Don't know why so suddenly & please don't ask…;)


	23. Chapter 23

'**Chapter 23'**

* * *

"YOU EVIL-EVIL FUCKED UP MENDACIOUS SON-OF-A-BITCH!! I hate you so very much!! Get a Hell down from that stupid tree you bloody koala!!" braked Naruto, pacing restlessly around the tree, while Gaara sat on the highest branch of it like a _cat_ hissing at an angry _bulldog_.

"So you can rip me to blasted pieces? Tsk…thanks, but I'll take my chances with the tree." snorted the red-head before ducking from a flying rock. _'…Seems that the fabrication between the snake-Sannin and godfather thing was rather exaggerated.'_

"You dirty cockroach!! You don't _joke_ about fucking stuff like _that_!! Fucking Lord, man, I almost died from _heart-attack_!!" yelled Naruto and kicked the tree with his foot, making Gaara grab onto the bole as the whole damn tree shook.

'_Shit, he's going to kill me.' _looking around the forest for a possible escape and coming out with none, Gaara wondered what he could say to distract the angry blond from permanently immobilizing him.

"I find this fairly amusing," all Kyuubi did was snigger, stretching out from his slumber, he walked over to the pacing blond and grabbed him by his boxer's waistline with a single nail.

"What a He-…?!? HEY!!" feeling himself being lifted up in the most weirdest and inappropriate of ways, Naruto tried hard not to slip out of his only left garment (after the swim), and secured a vice hold on them so nothing could 'flashed out'. "Put me down, lacerated plushy!!"

"Stupid boy, I should eat you right now for calling me that!" scowled Kyuubi, twitching at the name.

"Argh, I don't care!! Le'go!!"

Breathing in relief for the received distraction, Gaara jumped down from the tree. "Alright…I'll go fetch him some new clothes." he quickly informed the demon and disappeared before Naruto could protest…

"WhaA-… Where does he think he's going?! I haven't forgotten about that _rodent_ just yet!" yelled the squirming blond, whom the demon then suddenly let go and watched as he fell into the lake.

"Gha!" coming back to the surface, Naruto spluttered the water out and groaned as he was then quickly picked out and entwined around one of Kyuubi's tails.

"Now that you've cooled down, I can explain the reason I wanted you to summon me." lying down on his paws, Kyuubi placed Naruto in front of him.

"…Well…why then?"

"Take off the fold." he commanded, watching as the coughing blond untied the blindfold and revealed his ill eyes. "Stop blinking. Keep them open."

"Easy for you to say…"

Frowning at the torn vessels and generally unpleasant sight revealed before him, Kyuubi then said, "That's not the reaction the acid-liquid you got infected with would produce. Tell me, what else did you do to help yourself make them that repulsive?"

"I didn't _help_ them to be that way," hissed Naruto. "…I had no choice but use Kyuu-…your power and heal Gaara. Sight was but a small sacrifice to get him back on his feet."

"How sentimental," mockingly mumbled Kyuubi, letting Naruto go. "In any case, it is fortunate for you, …since I can fix that sight of yours, little boy." That quickly wiped off Naruto's scowl. "Though the endurance of the pang that'll flow, you'll have to overcome on your own. When your brother comes back, I'll explain the details."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" uncertain hoped appeared in Naruto's mind.

"No, I do not know what you think I am saying, but one thing I can tell you for certain," a grin stretched out, "You won't last through the procedure without wishing for your own death."

* * *

Closing the doors of his resident house and tossing some clothes over his shoulder, Gaara entered the awaking streets of Konoha, ignoring the way people shrunk when they caught him walking by. _'Ungrateful fools.' _he thought just as he passed by the ramen stand…

…Stopping and walking a few steps back, he looked at it before entering in, thinking of a person who'd surely appreciate some right now.

Catching the eye of the cook's daughter, who sent a weak smile at him, probably still afraid after the latest spread news of him and Naruto, he ordered five cups of 'miso'.

"Umm…h-how's Naruto…doing?" giving her father the order, she silently asked.

"Fine."

"That's good to hear," courageously intervened the smiling old-cook, not feeling the slightest way at discomfort, "Wouldn't want anything to happen to one of my finest paying customers, now would we?"

"Hm…" turning his gaze to the side, Gaara leaned against the counter as he waited. "I'm sure he's rather anxious over the fact that he isn't here to taste your food at the present."

Chuckling, as well as getting an encouraged grin from his daughter, the cook took empty cups and started pouring in the mix. "Then send him our deepest thanks; and he better get well soon, we've missed him here."

"Sure." sitting on the stool, Gaara looked up just when someone else entered the stand.

"Welcome, come on in!" cheerfully greeted Teuchi.

Smiling at the same time as munching on his bag of chips happily, Choji's hard working mouth suddenly stopped in motion when his eyes settled on deep greens boring straight into his own.

Gaara's eyes narrowed at the action, freezing the Akimichi kid further than he was already.

"What is it now?" tiredly groaned a voice behind the stilled teen, "Don't tell me they have new orders; otherwise we'll never lea-…" A light jab on his back forced Choji to take a few steps to let his curious companion step in as well…only to have him freeze too.

'_Nara,' _confirmed Gaara, eyeing now two surprised and scared teens staring at him, giving him time to wonder how long they'll be able to contain their breaths before passing out…

For a split second the awkwardness was broken by someone yelling outside in glee, until it also stopped when the yeller burst in and met Gaara's gaze. _'…spandex…'_ he quickly recognized the green outfit wearing ninja.

Now all three of them stood still and stared at him.

Not quite satisfied to be the one responsible for their self asphyxiation, which seemed to commence soon, Gaara finally took pity on them and turned away; decided to absorb the stuff the cook took his time placing into the cups instead.

"I don't feel my legs," silently breathed Choji, still staring with frightened eyes at the red-head, who looked even more animalistic with now his ears unhidden, hair free and nails slightly longer and sharper looking than previously, not to mention the powerfully abnormal radiation of his chakra suffocating the air.

'_This guy is giving me the creeps,'_ mentally admitted Shikamaru and quickly grabbed his friend by the collar, fully prepared to drag him out, but stopped when he turned to reach for Lee…and saw him walking over to the red-headed 'demon'.

"MY ALLIED DEPUTY!" Gaara nearly fell off the chair at the loud shout that 'exploded' behind him. "Despite our outlived hell and near death experience during our last fight, I must say it is a real pleasure to finally meet you under civil terms!! I am sure that your temporary stay here in the Leaf village shall be most pleasant and peaceful one!! Please, my name is Rock Lee. I am the _handsome-green-beast_ of Konohagakure, raised by my idol and teacher Gai-sensei. Only the most greatest person in this entire –Gack!!…" choking as he was suddenly grabbed by his throat, Lee paled as he was brought at eyelevel with the glaring red-head.

"Has that idol of yours ever found time to teach you proper manners when regarding an unknown person?" hissed Gaara.

Closing his widely agape mouth, Shikamaru quickly sprinted over and preyed Lee from the suffocating grip. "Don't mind him. He hit his head when he was little." Trying to save his now collapsed friend from getting further annihilated, Shikamaru blabbered bluff. "It's just the way he is. Could be a pain but you get used to it…after _some_ time that is."

"That's fine," calmly said Gaara taking away his hand, much to Choji and Shikamaru's hidden relief. "I was just……_messing_ with him, as you put it." he attempted.

Springing from his fainted state, Lee began yelling again, "OOOH! An outstanding move my passionate ally!! Let us now then declare this beautiful day as our newly fastened friendship between youthful-men, and affirm it through fist-fighting!!"

"Shut the hell up, Lee," growled the Nara kid, pulling his finger out off the ear which Lee was so fond of yelling in.

Chuckling uncomfortably at the green-eyed teen seemingly try to repress a twitch, Choji tried to change the subject, "So, Gaara……how's N-Naruto?"

"He's seen better days," said Gaara, giving a light smirk for encouragement, otherwise the _chubby_ teen looked ready to bolt. Sighing, he then stood up from his stool and walked over to them, trying not to pay attention to the way they backed off. "I'm not particularly comfortable with this, but I guess that I owe you an apology." he suddenly began, succeeding in stopping them and making them look at him with bewildered eyes. "Me and my brother have caused you a rather inadmissible and hard time the past few days…"

"Nonsense!" overwhelmed cried Lee, "Gai-sensei said that it was one of the most greatest fights he ever participated in. And I concur! You and Naruto-kun showed a lot of promise as good and worthy opponents! I am really looking forward to work with you both in the near future!"

Smirking a bit wider, Gaara replied with simple 'Likewise'.

"Here you go," intruding in, the cook handed Gaara his ramen full bag and secretly added in a whisper, "I've placed something special in each one of those cups for him to enjoy, along with three more flavors for free."

"Thank you." handing over the money, he turned back to three nins. "Enjoy yourselves." he nodded to them and headed for exit.

"Y-yea… Hey, Gaara! Say 'hi' to Naruto from us!" called Choji after him.

"Hm."

"Yes!! It is of very importance!!" eager yells from Lee accompanied him. "And please tell him I demand a rematch!!"

Sighing, Gaara shook his head and waved them off.

* * *

Appearing back in the clearing, Gaara was just as surprised to hear deep silence instead of an usual yelling when around certain two 'foxes', as confused when he spotted Naruto resting calmly on sleeping Kyuubi's muzzle.

"Hm," deciding to leave them alone and planning on stealing one of Naruto's ramens for breakfast, Gaara opened up the bag – letting out the aroma of hot soup – and reached out for the meal…

…Or perhaps he could have succeeded, if not for the sudden yellow blur that jumped him and tackled him to the ground.

"Ooh…is this _all_ for meee?! You shouldn't have!" gleeful and forgetful about all the previously planned ways to torture his best-evil-friend for the previous…_events_, Naruto dug his face into the ramen bag and searched for the prettiest pack of them all.

Scowling at the blond sitting on him, Gaara hissed, "My pleasure."

"You're so sweet!" Finding the destined cup to be the first one entering his royal stomach, Naruto dug out a pair of chopsticks and tore off the lid. "Anything new in town?" stuffing his mouth full of food, Naruto surprisingly managed a statement while gobbling.

"Nothing much." Pushing the blond off of him, Gaara straightened his clothes and dropped Naruto's new ones in his lap. "Nara, Akimichi says 'hi'; and the _spandex_ wants revenge."

"You met them?"

"Aa." Taking a pack himself, he sat in front of his friend and ate up under a light conversation.

Finally…, after finishing the last flavor with delightful sigh, Naruto dropped the last pack in the bag and pulled on his new clothes – black shin long shorts and orange T-shirt. Fastening the belt around the loose shorts, Naruto nodded to himself and went after Gaara, who was already near Kyuubi.

Opening his eyes, Kyuubi looked at the boys standing in front of him and said, "Sit."

Trying not to bark at the 'dog command' statement, Naruto plopped down on the grass.

Turning to the red-head, Kyuubi began with a straight point, "His eyes can be healed…, however, there are a few…_barriers_ that should be considered before agreeing to this matter."

Frowning, Gaara nodded.

"Both of you are already familiar with the situation that occurs when using demonical healing and the price that comes along with it. You cannot heal without enforcing pain on both bodies. This is happening because you are tainted breeds. Your blood withholds human cells, which is the very infection to the demonic body – they never compromise."

"You are such a racist." said Naruto in thought.

"It comes through the knowledge of history, boy." elaborated Kyuubi before continuing. "If we talk about the healing between full blooded demons – then the process proceeds with no feeling at all of course, since there is no infection that blocks the effect…; in your case – it is the man's blood. Though for a demon to heal a human – it is the same as nearing death; …yet the chances for a half tamed one to survive are six against billion."

"What is it exactly you're trying to say?" asked Gaara.

"There is a possibility that the sufferer," he nodded towards Naruto, "…might not last till the end of this procedure."

Falling in silence, Gaara's thoughts stopped at one point. _'…could this be pointless…'_

Turning his head to look over the lake, Kyuubi counseled, "I'd be wise to wager your decision…. Think – if your life is worth such a risk!"

Bringing his knees up, Naruto placed his elbows on them and rubbed his hair. _'This is such a pain.'_

Narrowing his eyes, Kyuubi abruptly turned to look in the direction of the forest from where some of the previously seen personalities began to emerge.

Glancing past his shoulder, Gaara looked over to his smiling siblings and other welcome or unwelcome parties approaching behind them. Narrowing his eyes as the gathered group stopped a good distance away (daring not to come any closer to the vile demon), Gaara stood up and looked down at scowling Naruto, who then stood as well – only to snort and step closer to Kyuubi, as if showing whose presence or side he would prefer over whose.

Satisfied with fair distance rather than attacking 'brother', Gaara went over to the group.

"Gaara. How've you been? You ok? Is everything alright?" meeting him halfway, Temari quickly pulled Gaara into a tight hug.

"You act like I've come back from years of war." Gaara commented.

"Considering the situation, it's almost the same," she answered pulling him closer to others and away from the glaring demon.

Forcing down the jealous feeling that family bonds radiated, Naruto crossed his arms and leant against Kyuubi's chest.

Absorbing the murderous looks exchanging between Kyuubi and the ninjas, the amused land lord pointed out the obvious, "Seeing the way things are still flowing in here, it appears that soon Gaara will have to act as an ambassador between demon and human. Now won't that be a fine day?"

"Great observation, my lord…, because that's exactly what he is already," taking a whiff from the pipe, Sarutobi let it out through his nose.

Gaara inclined his head before two powerful men.

"Good morning, Gaara. All is well, I presume?" smiled the lord.

"Unlikely." Before they could ask further, he changed the subject, "Should there be a reason for the sudden visit?" not a fairly welcoming hospitality, though Gaara was in no mood.

"We're here to find out Naruto's condition, as well as the settlement of the demon."

"Naruto is ok." he simply informed, "His chakra cells are regaining back to normal, though it'll take some time till everything in his system functions properly."

"And _that_…demon?" from the side Nagato spat, keeping his eyes on Kyuubi who quickly got bored from their heated gazes and decided to absorb Naruto instead, much to Nagato's dislike.

Frowning at the man's tone, Gaara tried to answer as normal as possible, "Kyuubi has not done anything that could be regarded as out of place. He is contained, however, Naruto is not; …And unless you haven't heeded my previous warnings as of yet, let me remind you that _your_ presence is keeping that stability from maintenance." that skipped unintentionally.

Scowling at that, Nagato finally tore his eyes from the beast. "What is so vial that I've done in my past for what you must hate me so?" he demanded, stepping closer, "Who was I to him?"

"You weren't _who_…you were _what_!" growled Gaara.

"Ok, that would be enough!" meddling in before their already shortened distance could become so short that blood would spill, Gennou pulled Gaara away from the glaring Nagato. "Let us try not to have our only ambassador trying to kill us sooner than settlements even began."

"Agreeable," nodded Sarutobi. "Now then…, will the Nine-Tails be so kind as to let us come forward and speak with him about the-…"

"No," came a low grumble from the resting fox.

A vein popped out of Hokage's head.

"The distance is more than enough for me to even hear your meaningless thoughts." Pulling his head up, Kyuubi looked them over. "What do you want?"

"Alliance."

"Alliance?" Kyuubi couldn't help but sneer, "With _humans_?"

"For you to walk freely among our lands and ensure the provided support, we need your word… that you will _never_ attack or bring harm to the innocent…"

"How naïve…, there is no such thing as innocent in the world of shinobi. You're in over your head, Sandaime Hokage."

Ignoring him, Sarutobi continued, "…never bring pain to people of the two nations, whether it is Leaf or Sand…, and swear loyalty to both – Konohagakure and Sunagakure."

The demon's eyes stayed transfixed on the old-man before narrowing in hatred; suddenly he stood up. The Anbu quickly grabbed their weapons and sprang in defense in front of the land lord, Hokage and Kazekage.

"Aren't you asking a bit too much?! …Loyalty? …Alliance? Those things are for the weak." Stepping a foot over Naruto, who sat on the ground, Kyuubi smirked as the gathered gang took a step back. "You humans have no honor as you have no esteem for others. Your will to have control above something that is beyond your logic and control is laughable. I swear no loyalty…"

"Please understand, you cannot be trusted as of yet, Nine-Tails." calmly explained the land lord, "Why else do you thing we need these precautions?"

"For the gain of the village's population." conveyed Kyuubi in mockery, "Just imagine the fear of other nations when they find out what powerful weapons you hold."

"Too late," Obito piped in, "They've already found that out… and wish to use everything given in order to win them over."

Arching a brow at the sudden news, Kyuubi couldn't hold in an ironical chuckle. Bringing then his paw up, he placed it behind the huddled shinobi and trapped them in between his both feet. Leaning down, he bared his teeth. "Well didn't the shine just fall upon you," he snarled in a low hiss. "Very well, the alliance is yours. …As long as the boys are safe."

"Why such sudden change in the personality? Aren't we the same as the other humans in those villages?" asked the slightly surprised Hokage, watching the demon step away from them.

"As much as I hate admitting that, but basing on the care _some_ of you have for them, your lands would be the only reasonability."

"A fine choice," nodded satisfied land lord. "I believe that we now all have something to look forward to then."

Frowning at the visible victory in the eyes, Kyuubi just hissed at him. _'Be that as it may… for now.'_

'…_for now…' _Naruto liked those words.

"Very well. Now that the first part is settled, I'd like to move on to a more difficult one."

Gaara had a good guess that that 'difficulty' would have something to do with Naruto.

* * *

Later at night…

Feeling smoke slowly fade around him, Naruto ran a shaking hand through his hair and breathed out in exhaustion, "I can't believe that I agreed to all this."

Stopping behind him, Gaara absorbed the place of the demolished forest, which Naruto 'rented' as a 'test-drive' for his powers.

'_He's recovery is increasing rapidly.' _Whether it was for good or not, Gaara's thought was for the latter. "Ready to go?"

Turning to his friend, Naruto took the offered bag from him and slugged it over his shoulder. "Do I have a choice?"

"Not exactly."

"Hmph!" Walking pass the large demon slouching by the lake, Naruto asked him, "You sure you don't want to go back to your world while we're gone?"

"In exchange of fresh air, walking meat and free possibility to have peace? No." Kyuubi grumbled.

"Eh…suit yaself." Waving him off, Naruto and Gaara continued to the forest. "I only wish he'll squish that remaining consciousness of his and eat all those Anbu hiding and watching over him. The nerve…"

"And I suppose you think it is _normal_ to leave a man-eating giant in the forest filled with little unprotected people running all by itself," Gaara regarded his 'brother' skeptically.

"Well…what's so bad about that?"

"… … I'll let you think it over."

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Think what over?"

'_Bloody retard.'_ "… … … I'm not talking to you anymore."

"…"

"…"

"Why?"

* * *

Stepping out of the carriage, Naruto took in a deep whiff of air and exhaled. Thick smell of concrete and a heavy feeling of pressure that the cold, high mountains radiated made his body feel downtrodden. "What a hell am I doing here?" he whispered, frowning at the cleared streets of Iwagakure, except the guards who stood staring bluntly at the arrived shinobi.

"After a whole day's ride spent under a suffocating silence, that's the first thing I have to hear from you? Really now…" playfully lectured Gennou, helping Temari out of the carriage.

"Tch…" snarling at him, Naruto pocketed his hands and turned to glare elsewhere.

Coming out of the second arriving carriage along with Minato and four Anbu (Obito, Shisui, Kakashi and Itachi), Sarutobi smiled at the rising sun above the familiar sky-high mountains. "Ah, just like I remember… nothing much has changed during the long times."

"It's not like it has been that long," Stretching his sore muscles, Obito yawned. "It's been only a year since your last discussion considering the alliance."

"Which had been broken," added Minato.

"No need for reminding, thank you very much." Sandaime glared at them for spoiling his good mood.

"Ok then." Gennou spoke up, "Now that we're finally here, let us try and find someone who could show us a way to the meeting place. Hospitality in here is so rude."

"That won't be necessary." spoke a low voice approaching them, "I'll be more than happy to take you to the meeting spot myself."

The just arrived shinobi took in the muscle-bound man grinning particularly down at them. His height was just as impressive as the amount of swards strapped to his back.

To Gaara's pale features the man stood as a direct opposite – had dark skin with an interesting contrast of white which formed his moustache and short beard. His black sunglasses made one think that those were his real eyes.

Spotting the two teens standing out, he already figured who they must be. _'…If bright colors and unorthodox descriptions had anything to say about this.'_

Naruto scowled at the man's nearly visible grin and hissed in none greeting, "What are you staring at!"

Chuckling, the man replied, "Something that will soon belong to its rightful place."

Restraining his will from slaughtering the second son of the Raikage, Minato forced out a calm tone. "Chose your words wisely Kirabi, or I just _might_ cut something that'll be gone from _your_ rightful place." Though the calmness should have been evident, the context itself ruined the final standards.

Hiding a twitch, Kirabi turned to the blond man he did not see sooner. "Namikaze," he hissed in recognition, "Can't say I'm please to meet you."

Stepping in front of the teens, Minato stared the man down. "I'll let you know when I start to care."

"You bastard!" grabbing one of his swords, Kirabi brought it to the blond's throat in a flash. "Give me one good reason to _not_ kill you right-OOFff!!" though before he could finish – a blur of yellow and red suddenly appeared out of nowhere and punched him so hard that he was sent flying a good distance away.

Minato blinked… Gaara blinked… and the rest did the same when they spotted Naruto standing in front of his 'father' like a protective shield.

"What is the meaning of this?" rising from his stupor, Kirabi growled.

Gaara thought the image will burn in his mind forever; the deeper it went the more did he thought of it as an impossible illusion. _'Did he just _defend_ his _father_?!'_

"Naruto…" stunned, in the most unexpected and hope-filled way, Minato was just about to reach for his 'son' when the boy's next words struck him like shocking lightning,

"You're stepping on thin grounds, shinobi of Kumo." Naruto's voice was filled with warning as he spoke, "His life is not _yours_ to take."

Kirabi stared and stared… till a satisfactory grin stretched about. _'Oh yeah…the delight! I think I just found out where your loyalty lies, little boy.'_

Minato's hand stilled before it slowly retreated itself; lidding his eyes halfway close, he did not dare show the painful sorrow he felt after that.

Dusting off his pants, Kirabi cracked his neck. "Not mine, huh. Well that's interesting… So tell me whose is it then? Or wait. Maybe, I should just guess? Let's see then… …Oh, could it be……perhaps… … …_yours_?" arching a brow in expectation, Kirabi's smirk glittered at the blind boy's appearing frown. "It is…isn't it?"

Trying to loosen his burning fists, Naruto inhaled a deep breath through his nose and paused before whispering aloud, "…No…, it's not."

The smugness dropped from Kirabi's delighted face in exchange of disappointed confusion. _'Is that so…?' _"That's not what my men saw…"

"If you are quite done, Kirabi, then get a hell out of my royal way!"

Feeling someone pocking him from behind, Kirabi turned around in expectations to come at an eyelevel with that grumbling voice's owner, but it had to go downwards since he was met with thin air.

An old, goblin-looking man over his seventies, glared up at the dark-skinned shinobi and waved his walking-stick in anger. "Move! You big piece of timber!"

Growling at the puny man he could simply squish with his foot, Kirabi did as was told, otherwise it'll mean more trouble for the Cloud shinobi if he displeases this village's Tsuchikage.

Purposely stepping on Kirabi's foot, who bit his tongue and restrained himself from hitting the old walking bag, the little man walked over to both 'brothers' surrounded by Sand and Leaf nins.

Scowling up at Naruto and Gaara, who raised their eyebrows in question, the little man absorbed, "So here is the whole 'chaotic-thing' that everyone keeps talking about?" Bringing his walking-stick up, he pocked Naruto's stomach as if examining a piece of meat. "Not too impressive." Pocking him some more, Tsuchikage then reached over and kicked him in the knee, which resulted a loud roar from Naruto, which however the little man then silenced by slamming his walking-stick to Naruto's head. The poor blond fell to the ground and Tsuchikage frowned…

"Are you telling me that _this_ is your so called 'secret weapon'!?" turning to glare at Sarutobi and Temari, who could only blink, the little man started to yell in complain, "Bhaa! What a joke!! I've seen better examples in the academy."

"You Old Fa-…" rising to his feet, Naruto leaped at the irritating 'goblin', though Gaara quickly grabbed him and clapped down his mouth shut before it could form something which could be the cause of their death later.

"Well wonderful then." butting in as always, Gennou shielded the wrestling 'brothers' from Tsuchikage's view. "Now that you've witnessed there is nothing worthy of impression, how about we cancel the meeting, huh?!"

Tsuchikage's glare deepened. "No!" he objected peevishly, "The meeting will continue because I hate you and _I_ say so!"

"… … …Is that guy for real? OOW…!" grabbing his sore head, Naruto groaned as he was whacked by that stupid stick again.

"Show respect to your elders, sonny!" waving his stick around for emphasize, Tsuchikage then roared out, "Now, let's go already! You're wasting too much space on my precious property."

Shisui and Obito couldn't hide in a chuckle, which however caused them a smack upside the head from Minato.

* * *

Walking into a large cool room enlightened by thousands of crystal white glasses reflecting the lights of blue torchlights, Temari tensed at the amount of people it held. Each one looking wiser beyond the other.

Scanning the room, her eyes soon caught the separated group of her loyal advisories. Like all members from other nations, they stood in their own far corner.

Detaching themselves from the Leaf nins, Gennou gave Temari an encouraging smile as he led her over to the members of the Sand.

A man, dressed in an honorable council's outfit met them halfway. "Kazekage-sama. Gennou-sama." he bowed in respect.

Sighing her nervousness out, she smiled at her former teacher. "Hello Baki. How has it been going?"

"Rather blinding. This whole situation is very unnerving, Temari-sama. Even still we have no idea of what is going on here. …However, we believe you know what you are doing," he said, glancing at the rest of the Sand council members, who inclined their heads in gestures of trust and faithfulness.

The council's approval was all it took to make Temari's worry vanish. "Thank you very much, sensei. You don't know how much it helps. I will explain everything after the meeting is over."

"We shall wait. But until then we'll play along." Looking then around, he absorbed, "I see that Kankuro was sent back to watch over the village."

"Yes, as you can see it was unavoidable." she pointed out their current whereabouts.

Opening his mouth to say something, Baki's eyes suddenly flashed to the side as the double-doors at the back were triggered open.

Murmurs and whispers stopped as everyone's attention was turned back.

To everyone familiar, two Anbu of the Rock country stepped through them, followed by four pairs of Sand, Leaf, Cloud and Mist guards. As they walked deeper in only then could the others see two more personalities surrounded in the middle.

Cold green eyes turned to the side meeting familiar dark black. _'Hello sensei.'_

"…" Baki's eyes narrowed in thought. There was something very familiar about that boy, yet he couldn't place it. _'Who are you?'_

* * *

The hall was filled with yells, complains and outroars as every one of the gathered people shouted their opinion on the matter.

Naruto and Gaara kept held in silence as they set in the hall's center enclosed by a strong chakra barrier and surrounded by each nation's two Anbu. Just like an expensive price in the auction.

"They're making fools out of themselves," resting his elbows on his bent knees, Naruto sighed and leant his back against Gaara's. "Excuse my ignorance, but I can't seem to get the whole _deal_ behind this meeting. Whatever do they hope to achieve by it?"

Hearing 'brothers' talk to each other, Shisui decided to join in. "Why the power of course." he enlightened the obvious, "In their believes, Konoha and Suna holds far too much priorities over other nations, which is quite 'unfair' as they place it."

"Stop this idiotic disorder!" walking around in front of the circled nations, Tsuchikage shouted around, "I want to hear no jeering during my court!"

"You are quite right, Tsuchikage." agreed a gently seductive voice of a pretty young-lady with blue eyes and dark red-hair, "Let's just end this nonsensical ordeal. It is clear enough that these boys should belong to us!"

"You're deceptive, Godaime." growled the temporary leader of the Cloud village – Ei (a brawny dark-skinned man, with white gelled hair, short beard and moustache; wearing light clothes that proudly revealed his hard chest), "These boys should belong to the Land of the Lightning!"

"You hold no right as you hold no dignity, Ei! Weren't your father that sick, he would've never left you in charge of his lands. Anyways, I oppose to the Cloud's demands! The boys' rightful place is to stand besides the Water nation! For it was _our_ allied country that has first taken hold of them – the land of the Sea!"

"I will not listen to any opinions given from a woman!"

"You insolent freak! I'm gonna kill you!!"

"Enough!!" Temari's abrupt yell was enough to shut up the arising word-war. "Enough of this disgraceful act! Neither of _you_ hold any rights over Gaara or Naruto! They are shinobi of the village hidden in the Sand, which has been that way for over fourteen years and will continue that way!"

"You hold no proof of them belonging…!" a member from the Mist backed up their leader.

"Who gave her the right to speak anyways?!" protested the Lightning.

"God, this is a pain. I have forgotten the stubbornness that runs in the family," Sarutobi mumbled out his line of thoughts.

"You talking to me?!" of course Ei had always been one on the cracking nerves.

"This whole meeting is pointless, Tsuchikage!" growled Temari, quickly getting a hand of the politics. "Whatever do you hope to accomplish with this?! The matter considering our shinobi should not even be to any of your concern! You are trespassing on unfamiliar grounds!!"

"Quiet woman!" roared Oonoki (the leader of the Rock village and the organizer of this whole chaos). "It is for me to decide what is pointless and what is hopeless!! I want to have clear proof over the facts that these two "travelers", as the resent news have enlightened us from the Sea lands – thanks to the Mizukage –, have anything to do with the likes of _you_ owning them!! Hah! What will you say about that?!"

'_You Old sack of garbage! I'll show you proof!'_ "Fine! Seeing that you're so interested, I'll tell you then. – Gaara is my _brother_!" at that cold statement everything went like under the water – silent and unable to breathe; even Suna's council had something more than widely opened eyes.

Sighing at the agape Tsuchikage in front of her, Temari clenched the bridge of her nose. "He comes from the Land of the Wind. His rightful birthplace is Sunagakure." Glaring everyone down, she practically yelled out, "And you all hold _no_ power over him!! Although if you're willing to fall low enough to doubt my words, then please, by all means check out his DNA!"

Frowning at the deductions of unbreakable laws that family bonds withheld, the other nations gathered to speak between themselves, until the Lightning stood up and looked dead ahead in challenge. "Perhaps not Gaara then…, though what about the other – Naruto?"

If Minato were to say that Naruto is his son, then the question of Suna's control over him would break, which however would raise far more problematic issues; which hence was the reason of Sarutobi's silence.

Temari's eyes narrowed at the confidential smugness her opponents held. "What _about_ Naruto?"

"Oh please…, don't dwell on it. Just accept the facts, Temari-sama." joining the Lightning for once in her life, Mei (the Mizukage) shared her knowledge, "Gaara _might_ be your genetic brother – yes; but Naruto is something completely different."

"I don't know what you mean?" glaring at the tall woman, Temari followed her with her gaze as she walked pass and approached closer to the Anbu guarding the teens.

Stopping in front of them, she expended her hand in Naruto's direction and closed her eyes, trying to see the blond's thoughts.

"He does not have the aura of a loyal Wind shinobi."

'_Shit,' _tsk-ing at the keen woman, Temari wondered what to say next.

"You are right, he doesn't," it was Gaara who spoke up and now received all the attention including the startled eyes of the Sand and Leaf members. Meeting Minato's gaze, Gaara continued, "His loyalty is dedicated to the Leaf village… As allies, Wind and Fire had agreed on a secret pact, assigning Naruto as their legal guardian."

Courtesy of the red-head, Minato, Sarutobi and Temari now stood blinking at the upturn of events as all looked back on them.

"Is this the truth the boy speaks of?" Oonoki demanded.

Hopping Gaara knows what he's saying, Minato played along, "What ever makes you doubt him?" _'If you exclude the fact that there is no damn contract to prove it!'_

"Hmph…, there is much more to doubt than you expect," sneering, Kirabi stepped forward to speak for the Lightning.

"What do you mean?" Kazekage questioned.

"What I mean is…– I _know_ that Wind has no control over Naruto, and neither does the Fire."

"Hn. What makes you say that?" trying to keep his composed self, Sarutobi settled with gripping his pipe.

The members of the Lightning's council looked between each other in an affirmative satisfaction as Kirabi answered, "Naruto's unleashed rage upon the Leaf village!"

Loud turmoil commence as loud gasps, bursts of talks and whispers filled the hall, leaving both Raikage's sons' grin expend against Minato's narrowed eyes.

'_How do they know?'_

"Is this true?" Terumii Mei looked at the temporary Raikage and his tough councilors. "How do you know of that?"

"Our men witness a _lot_ of things during the wars," Kirabi spoke before his older brother Ei. "Naruto has tried to commence _murder_ on the Namikaze!"

Cursing the Lightning, Gaara rubbed his forehead, _'Fuck…what now?'_

The whole hall fell into a huge disorder; the Lightning's delight was shown in every aspect.

"Quiet!! Quiet already!! Shut up I say!!" Oonoki tried to out yell the bustling crowd raved up by the bad soap-opera.

"Now tell me this…" speaking above the raucous, Ei yelled out towards the Leaf nins, "Where _exactly_ does Naruto's loyalty lie?"

As the hustled hall slowly began to settle down, Tsuchikage turned his exhausted red-faced self from the other nations and towards the Fire's.

Taking a calm whiff from his pipe, Sarutobi looked at Naruto, "If you're so bent on finding out. Then perhaps you should ask this question Naruto himself."

Naruto frowned as the old coats' problems were dropped down on him.

"Well boy? What do you have to say of this? Speak!" familiar to Naruto's ears, the 'goblin's' voice grumbled demandingly.

Clicking his tongue and trying not to laugh out at this dum gathering, Naruto answered in indifference, "Sorry to disappoint, but I can't take people with paranoiac disorders seriously."

"What did he say?!" Ei growled.

"Boy! Stop making a mockery out of my court and answer the damn question!" Tsuchikage joined Lightning in their growls.

"The only one who is making a mockery in here is you!" Naruto shot back. "Frankly, I don't see what business is it any of yours whom I am or am not loyal to. You have no right to discuss my or Gaara's future!"

"Insolent little fool!" waving his stick around, Oonoki restrained himself from throwing it at the ignorant boy, "Children like you can never understand the importance that must be agreed on when it comes to discuss the balance between shinobi nations. And you two have just broken that balance."

"In what freaking way?"

"Daa…Never mind that!! I don't expect stupid children like you to understand this! Anyways, answer my question already!!" fumed Tsuchikage.

'_Tch…freak!'_ "Fine! I'll tell ya, and, even though it'll probably be impossible, I expect you to remember it forever!" As everyone quieted down, Naruto gave them his answer, "I hold _no_ loyalty for _any_ village!"

Gaara's and everyone else's eyes went wide, whereas the members of the Lightning opened their mouths and prepared to yell out in a victorious outroar…

…although all that was short-lived as Gaara's elbow nearly broke Naruto's spine with its sudden harsh jam, forcing Naruto to struggle out a few more words he forgot to add, "…except _Konohagakure_." he grit out.

"What?!" the dark-skinned brothers growled out in union.

Everyone began to yell again. Naruto thought on how to not scream and tear his hair out.

"For pity sake! Shut up already!!" stepping forward, Sarutobi looked ready to kill if one more word was to be uttered, "As far as it is, it's clear that normal civil-words are too much of a struggle for your comprehension…" practically insulting the whole nation and ignoring all the glares and growls, the Hokage proceeded on, "…That's why I have a suggestion. What better way could we prove Naruto's loyalty other than just by show it?"

Arching her delicate brow, Mei looked between the nation leaders, "A test?"

"Why not?" Temari seemed to agree on it as well.

"What do you mean – _why not_?" growled Naruto, feeling completely ignored.

"What kind of a test?" asked Tsuchikage.

"That I believe we are about to agree upon," said Sarutobi.

"It'll be the suicidal kind." Ei gave no room for other suggestions. "He'll have to risk his life for _your_ favor." he jammed a finger at Minato.

'_Excuse me!!'_ Naruto's agape mouth nearly cracked Shisui up.

"Fine!" Minato snapped back, trying to kill Ei with his gaze. "…seeing as you're so obsessively persistent."

'_Minato you unrewarding bastard, I'll kill you!!' _If only Minato knew what Naruto was thinking….

"Would that be all?" gritting the words out, Namikaze tried to keep polite.

"Oh no…, not even close," waving a finger in front of him, Ei shortened the distance between them, "The mission _you_'ll choose for the boy shall be evaluated and approved by the leaders of the five nations. I believe that's only fair, don't you?"

Keeping his hands away from snapping that delightful look on Ei's face, Minato clapped them down. "More than enough."

"_And_ to make sure everything goes by the rules, a member from each nation shall be chosen to go along with him. His progress will be reported to us on daily basis."

"Sounds reasonable," agreed Mizukage.

"Then let's get this over with and make selections of the boy's evaluators." Oonoki grunted out.

"What a Hell is happening?" to Naruto it did not sound amusing anymore.

"I believe it's fair to start with the '_owners_' first." the Cloud never missed a chance to poke fun over the Leaf villagers. "Wouldn't you agree, Namikaze-_sama_?"

Shaking his head, Minato breathed out a sigh, "I feel sorry for you, Ei. You _are_ pretty pathetic."

Losing his grin, the temporary Raikage stepped over to tower above Minato. "Then I guess it goes mutually." Leaning closer, he whispered low enough for only Minato to hear, "I don't know what you're trying to prove by accepting the challenge, but at least don't try to hide the truth. The position you have just worked yourself in unnerves you. You and I both know that _that_ boy has something against you. There is too much hatred in him; he will _never_ bend to your will. Admit it! You don't stand a chance!"

Taking a few steps back from the uncomfortable proximity, Minato showed a cool mask. "You sure sound confident over yourself, son of Raikage. Even if so, nevertheless, what makes you believe that he will hold loyal to _you_? Seeing the way he destroyed your army and all…"

Gritting his teeth, Ei retorted, "You're forgetting one thing. There's always a way to make a compromise between both parties. I'll make sure to give him what he wants…and in return I will get what _I_ want. But I don't think there'll be much difference between our wills. He and I _both_ seem to want the same thing – …" _'…your death.'_

Satisfied with the delivered message, Ei straightened back to his tall form and gestured for the Leaf nins to elect their shinobi. "Make your pick."

Leaning closer to his boiling best-friend, Gaara whispered in a threatening hiss, "Whatever the further terms are, or whoever is chosen as your watcher, _agreee_!"

"So?" Oonoki tapped his foot impatiently, "Who will be the one to accompany Naruto in his judgment?"

Before Minato could open his mouth to call out his pick, a deep voice spoke by Naruto's side…

"I will."

Paling more than it would be normal, Naruto practically yelled out, "I refuse!!"

* * *

One day's period, nighttime…

Back in the village…

"Fuck them to eternity!! I ain't gonna do it!" passing from side to side, Naruto hissed his complains to the world. "I'm not going to just stand and be placed under the watch of that psychotic red-eyed freak! Of all the darn people, why _him_!! 'I will', he says, that drilled egoistic bastard!! Well _I_ say, 'Stuff your face in a mixer!!'. AAaargh!! Why?! Why!?!"

Gaara allowed him to rant on while he himself leant against one of the already snoring Kyuubi's paws and followed Naruto's endless pacing with bored eyes, admiring that he still hadn't dug out a hole in the ground from his frustrating steps.

'_He's making a fuss over nothing! Tch…, how bad could a mission with Itachi Uchiha be?!… …'_

* * *

_A/N_

_**è **__Thanx to the reviewers:_ realworldiscruel, narubby23, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Kisanei, Whiteinu1, That's Nice, kyothefallenkit, Anave Lipad, DiaryAnjo or RisingSunRemix, MadMonki, nautikitti, Yoko. no. unmei, Conflicted Soul, 11OneDone2Many, Mischievious Kitsune & Psycho-Pandabot!

_**è **__replies to chp #22:_

Psycho-Pandabot – XDD

Mischievious Kitsune – XD

11OneDone2Many – ;))

Conflicted Soul – XDD

Yoko. no. unmei – XDD

nautikitti – XD

MadMonki – XDD

DiaryAnjo or RisingSunRemix – ;))

Anave Lipad – XD

kyothefallenkit – ;))

That's Nice – XD getting them back home will be quite difficult, though I don't know if I'll even send them there?!;)

Whiteinu1 – ;))

Kisanei – XDD

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – XDD

narubby23 – XDD

realworldiscruel – ;))


	24. Chapter 24

'_**Chapter 24'**_

_(Lil'child)_

* * *

"It has been affirmed. They are merged." closing the door behind himself, a tall orange-haired man entered the cool steal-wall room. "There's nothing more that can be done. They're out of our hands."

Looking up between his fingers covering his face as he leaned on it, a dark-haired male grunted out, "Do you know where they are?"

Keeping quiet, the other's eyes narrowed and, instead of answering, he spoke coolly, treachery coloring his expression. "You've led me into deception…. It's over, Uchiha Madara."

"No…" shaking his head, the dark-haired man rose from his stone hard 'throne' and advanced his subordinate. "…it's not over. …Not _yet_. As long as they live…we can still use them."

"We can't _use_ them…" retorted the orange-haired. "…not anymore. That chance has gone by your sight without you doing anything. Their demonic chakra is suppressed. …You've lost, Madara."

"I Do Not Lose, Pain!" he hissed.

"Mind who you are talking to, Uchiha! We had a deal…"

"There is still time!" glaring at him, Madara turned him his back and called out the appearing shadow from the dark corner, "Zetsu!"

A bored voice of a tall plant-like creature or man asked, "Yes…, Madara?"

"Did you find them?"

Skipping a glance at Pain, Zetsu took a fresh inhale. "No… …They're gone."

Even Pain's eyebrow rose up.

"What does it mean 'gone'?" growled the elder Uchiha.

"Not to be meant as 'dead'," intruded the darker side of the green-skinned, "They simply disappeared from this world without a trace." The other side finished, "We cannot find them – neither under ground or water."

Running pale bony fingers through his thick hair, Madara hissed in anger and slammed a hand into the stone chair. _'Fucking Brats!! They've ruined everything!!'_

Forcing the newly interesting matter for latter investigation, Pain turned back to the matter at hand. "Whatever you hope by achieving now, Uchiha, is useless." calmly he said as his eyes slowly turned to the entrance. "The First and Ninth's chakra was a necessary tool for the Summoning. We needed it to suppress the other demons. They were what could limit them and sustain the balance. …But now, since there can be clearly no longer any need for them …therefore, there is no more need for _you_."

Turning sharply around, Madara blinked as the doors to the room opened and in entered the rest of the members of their group – pulling off their dark cloaks and taking out their weapons.

"What is the meaning of this, Pain? Have you turned my own men against m-…" he was forced to shut up as a long blade of Pain's katana suddenly pressed its tip to his throat.

"Sorry, Uchiha… It's nothing personal."

* * *

Eyes of deep venomous color shone threateningly before the standing men enlightened by the dancing candle lights. "Gone?" a snake-like-voice hissed from the shadowed. "What kind of a pathetic excuse of an answer is this?"

"Sir… I-…" the leader of the troops tried to explain their failure… however that chance was shortly lived as a shinning cold blade suddenly went through the shocked man's stomach.

"I asked you to find them…" standing over the dead body of one of his personal ninjas, the _snake_-Sannin – Orochimaru glared at his other yielding men. "_Not_ the other way around!"

The warriors flinched as Orochimaru yanking his sword from their dead commander and flicked the blood to the side.

"I'm giving you one more chance. Find them!"

With no further delay, the troops nodded and disappeared.

Sighing in annoyance, the _snake_ closed his eyes and sat back down in his 'throne'.

"Kabuto."

Stepping out of the darkened corner of the room, a young man adjusted his spectacles while he walked to stand in front of his master, carelessly stepping over the dead man on the floor.

"Did you find them?" asked Orochimaru.

Looking at the annoyed man rubbing his temples, Kabuto's reply was short, "No…"

Sighing in disappointment, Orochimaru leant back in his chair and closed his eyes.

"…But I know where they are." A proud smirk broke the white-haired man's sly features.

Opening his eyes, Orochimaru's brow rose in interest and curiosity.

* * *

…

"… …_demon…"_

…

"…_how did you summon me…"_

…

"_Where's my friend?"_

…

"…_caged bird…"_

"…_it is nothing more than a decor…" _

…

"_Can you hear me?!"_

…

"_What's with your eyes?"_

…

"_I'm fine…"_

…

"_Tell me what's wrong?!"_

…

"_Kyuubi…!?"_

"_Who are you?"_

…

"…_vessel."_

…

"…_I'll be able to see you…"_

…

"…_I will kill you!!"_

"AAH!" The break-out of a startle gasp awoke the mind momentarily, revealing the eyes of a startled child…

"My God, Iru-…"

"…"

Before one's vision could settle in, two tall bodies abruptly collapsed right before the bed.

The awakening instincts quickly pushed the child to get away and he began kicking his legs against the sheets till his back collided with a bedpost…

…Stuck in one place and panting in an uncontrollable rhythm, the wide-eyed boy felt his whole body begin to tremble as deep fear grabbed hold of him; the stilled picture of two unmoving forms of a brow-haired man and a yellow-haired woman on the ground did nothing other than raise it higher.

'…_what's h-happenin' … …wh-where…where…am I…'_ scared beyond belief, his mind pondered him with thousands of unresolved questions as wide eyes searched every corner or hole for a possible answer…

Forcing his eyes to the side, the child's breath hitched as he spotted a bright floating cloud passing by the room's uncovered window. Its end soon began to shine brighter as it slowly unrevealed the hidden sun that flashed free and went right into his sight,

"AHh…" the boy flinched and covered his eyes with his small hands as the intensity of the light began to burn them in anguish. Finding no hideaway on the bed, he fell off it. Scrambling away from the following beams of the sun and into the shadowed corner, he whimpered as something thick and unpleasant began to tickle down the inner corners of his eyes and further blurred his vision.

'…_w-wh-a…'_ bringing his trembling hand up he whipped off his cheek and smelt…, "… …AAAAAAAAHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

* * *

The doors to the room burst open and Tsunade and Jiraiya ran in first, followed by the rest of the group.

"Temari!" seeing his sister in Iruka's shaking arms, Kankuro quickly ran over to help him bring her unconscious form over to the bed.

"What happened?" Tsunade demanded.

Holding his spinning head, Iruka hissed out in pain, "I…I don't know… I can't remember a thing."

Light shuffling of a fabric made everyone momentarily turn their attention to the bed where a meek voice whispered out, "…K-Kankuro?" Hope-filled misty-green eyes peeked from under the covers as they settled on the brow-haired Suna Jounin.

Kankuro's own eyes went wide. "Good God… …Gaara…"

Uncontrollable emotions forced tears to spill down the little child's cheeks and he jumped out of the bed, rushing into his big brother's widely opened arms.

'_Thank god…, thank god. He knows me.' _lifting the boy up, Kankuro brought him close to his chest and calmed down his cries.

Appearing into the room, Asuma, Gai, Neji and Shikamaru looked around the complicated scene before them. "What happened? Who screamed?"

The reply was a mere whisper of 'We don't know', for the whole attention was transfixed at the family interaction between two siblings.

Checking the little red-head shaking into Kankuro's protective arms, Shikamaru's next question broke their stupor into a frantic fit, which seemed to be partly dismissed. "Where's Naruto?"

Tsunade's eyes widened. Nothing but obscurity was spreading around the whole room…, until everyone's eyes finally settled on the opened window. "Find him!" she commanded and the Jounin disappear without a word.

Walking over to Kankuro and the little boy, who looked lost in a content peace, the _slug_-Sannin ordered him to arrange the child back in bed while she checks on Temari and Iruka.

* * *

Following his blind instincts, the small blond rushed through the deep forest, shielding his face away from every bush or spring that kept smacking him harshly into the face.

Not caring for the deep scratches or bruises that formed from his constant trips and falls, he kept darting into an unknown.

An abrupt flash of him running in the similar way stung his head, which he promptly dispelled.

'_I don't understand! Where am I…! Father, where are _ya_?! … …I'm scared…'_

Letting tears spill, he didn't see where he was heading until he suddenly felt himself fall as the ground beneath his small feet disappeared and he went tumbling down the high hill.

"AAahhh…" falling onto his right-arm, he heard it snap with a sickeningly painful crack which forced out a loud yell.

Sobbing, he pushed himself up to his trembling feet and held his arm closely to his stomach. Another flash hit him hard.

'…_What's going on…! …Where am I… Where are you… Why can't I find you?!' _Brushing his eyes the best he could so as to see better, he choked out another sob at seeing nothing except thick trees, and turned to run…,

But suddenly he collided with something stiff that knocked him back onto the ground.

Opening his eyes wide, he blinked up at a tall figure of a man who looked carelessly down at him. His dark cloak in contrast with strange red clouds hid every one of his features except those dark red eyes, which structure the boy knew all too well.

Something seemed to astonish the man, for his eyes slowly agape wide, before narrowing in appearing rage. His full attention was pulled in on the small boy's eyes. "…the Sharingan…" name slipped pass his lips like a forbidden whisper.

'…_Why is he staring… What does he want…'_ The little blond's stomach flipped at the dark aura this man radiated. _'…I don't want to be here…'_ Without another thought he sprang to his feet and bolted to the other direction…

…But after his five meter run, the man appeared in front of him again. _'N-no…' _sliding to a stop, the child kicked his feet to get back but he gasped as he was suddenly grabbed by the collar of his white shirt and slammed against a tree. "AAHhh…" the harsh jam made his broken arm turn and pain flow through it on a new level. "…please…please…let me go…"

Seeing the boy turn his face and close his eyes in a tight shut as if expecting a punch to the face, the Akatsuki member pulled him higher up so he was at an eye level with him and grabbed his chin to turn the tan face straight. "Open your eyes." He commanded in deep rich voice.

Hitching, the child chocked out a frightful 'no'.

The Akatsuki's eyes hardened, though before he could repeat his demands one more time, he got interrupted…

…A kunai suddenly went flashing all the way across his back in one strike and he was forced to release the child so as to escape from being completely torn apart.

Jumping away, he glared at the Leaf village's _Copy Cat_ who appeared in front of the gasping and wheezing boy on the ground.

The man's eyes narrowed at the former Anbu captain. "Kakashi."

"Itachi," the reply was mutual in between.

Glaring each other down till satisfaction, Itachi eyes turned to the child. "Who is that boy, Hatake?" he demanded coldly.

"I don't think that's any of your business." Kakashi retorted and quickly took out his kunai. "Now leave before I decide to kill you."

'_Leave, huh,'_ Itachi's eyebrow rose, interest perking for the fact that Kakashi wasn't even trying to fight him or get him to jail, instead he was bent on keeping that child away from him. _'Hn. Foolish being.'_ "I'm afraid I can't do that." _'…not anymore.'_

"I'm warning you, Uchiha. Leave, or be sure to suffer the consequences."

"Your confidence overpowers your strength, Hatake. You know that you are no match for me."

'_Tch, bloody truth stings. But in any case, what is he doing here? What does he want? A simple fight?'_ "Just try me."

Itachi's eyes hardened. "Move, Kakashi. I have no intention to fight you."

"Hn. That's funny, coming from the coldblooded murderer."

"I said move, Hatake. I'm taking that child with me."

'_Naruto?'_ blinking, Kakashi looked down on the small child who was trying to hide within himself. "Whatever do you want with him?"

"As if you don't know." Was the cold reply that made Kakashi wander what was that what he was supposed to know. "I'm giving you one more chance, Hatake. Step aside."

Still unsure of Uchiha's desire for the child, Kakashi's defense didn't alter. Brining his kunai up, he glared at Itachi in challenge. "You are not taking this boy."

Frowning at the persistence, Itachi took out his own kunai, "Then I guess it's inevitable. Sorry, but you leave me with no choice. I'll have to dispose of you."

"Tch." _'Why is he so interested in this child? He doesn't even know who he is.'_ Gripping the blade harder, Kakashi had enough of this meaningless conversation. "Then come!"

"Kakashi!" an abrupt arrival of Gai, Neji, Asuma and Shikamaru practically saved Kakashi his life.

'_Perfect timing.'_

Itachi's frown deepened. Lowering his weapon, he took one more look at the trembling child… "We'll be in touch." …he said and disappeared.

The others tensed and waited for maybe the upcoming surprise-attack, though it never came…

"He's gone," said Neji and turned to look down at their little runaway.

Putting the kunai away, Kakashi kneeled before the little 'man' and playfully flicked his nose. "Hey…, how you holding up, little chap?"

Meeting the man's eyes in a reluctant manner, the boy couldn't stop the quiver of his lower lip as he asked hopefully, "Where's my daddy?"

The Leaf shinobis' eyes agape, …though not because of the question but rather of what they were seeing in the child's bleeding eyes.

"…Mangekyou."

* * *

Slamming the entrance-door open, Itachi walked down the cool halls of the deep-cave till he came in front of a dark metal door.

As the hard metal hit the wall, Pain turned his neck far enough to see who entered. "What do you need, Itachi?"

"I want to talk to _him_."

Sensing the Uchiha in a bitter mood, Pain looked back at the beaten person in the cell he's been absorbing and said, "You have five minutes." Turning away, he headed for the exit.

Once the door closed, Itachi looked down on the barely naked shackled man in the sealed cell and spoke, "Did you know that Konohagakure has an adolescent Uchiha in their walls?"

Madara's eyes narrowed in deep confusion and his head forcefully turned upwards; his surprised expression clearly showed everything necessary for that question.

"That's all I needed to know," said Itachi and walked out of the prison.

"You done?" asked Pain from his spot against the wall.

"Yes." Itachi replied. "When is his deadline?"

Stepping back into the prison room, Pain answered, "Now." And the door locked behind him with an echoing click, sealing away the loud screams of deep anguish that'll soon die into emptiness.

* * *

Walking back to the village, Kakashi kept a secure hold on the little blond as he carried his covered form in his arms.

"…I've seen ya in a picture…" abruptly whispered the boy in the Jounin's chest.

The grey-haired was all ears. "You did, huh?" _'Must have been the reason why he trusts me more than others.'_

"…ya looked younger back then."

Kakashi's lips lightly quivered, _'No doubt everyone looks younger in your world, little Naruto.'_ "So you know me then, huh?"

"…m-mm…, no."

Kakashi felt a little hurt, but changed his expression when the boy tightened his hold around his neck, feeling his depression. "Maa…that's ok. We can get to know each other anytime, ne? Or even right now, if you want?"

At the boy's nod, Kakashi brought him far enough so he could see his face. Trying not to stare at those unchanged red _Mangekyou Sharingan_ eyes, Kakashi began their playful introductions, "Ok. My name's Hatake Kakashi. How about you?"

"Namikaze Naruto."

Kakashi's arms stiffened for a moment. "Namikaze, eh?" glancing warily at the others, who looked at him in the same watchful manner, he tried to keep his cheerful tone, "So you must've already known who your father was then."

This time it was Naruto who stiffened and he looked at Kakashi with narrowed eyes, "Of course I do …but… … what do ya mean by – 'was'?"

Kakashi's eyes quickly forced themselves back to Naruto's and he stopped walking. His words were his mistake. _'Could it be that Yondaime is alive in his world?'_

The others stilled as well and looked closely at the pair.

The expression on Kakashi's face hid three emotions – fear, anxiety and panic.

Fear – for little Naruto to find out that in this dimension his father is dead;

Anxiety – over the problem on how to explain him that his father is alive (if they can believe in child's words) but might never be seen again;

And finally, panic – resolved, however, around their dimension's Naruto in finding out that his father is alive, …and what might happen to him if he gates his hands on Minato; … … – although that Kakashi didn't think he wanted to know.

"Why aren't ya answering me?" starting to fidget uncomfortably in the man's hold, who promised to take him home, Naruto looked around, "…Wh-where's my dad? Why didn't he come?"

Hatake's eyes lightly lidded. _'What a hell am I supposed to say?'_

At the thick silence and others' searching expressions, the little boy looked back into his carrier's eyes and suddenly stopped all his movements. Slowly, Naruto's eyes began to tear again. Bringing his hand up, the boy suddenly started pushing against Kakashi's chest. "Put me down." he whispered in a shaking voice.

"Naruto…" Despite the child's will, Kakashi's hold only tightened, which brought a new level of panic in Naruto,

"Let me go!" the boy demanded more harshly now.

"No, you misunderstood! Please, listen to me first…"

"No! Ya're no friend…" hitting Kakashi in the chest, Naruto began yelling, "Let me go, LET ME GO!!"

Grabbing the small pounding fist, Kakashi whispered a silent remorse and quickly hit a pressure point, which knocked the boy out.

'_This is not good,'_ lying the small child on the ground, Kakashi sat beside him, feeling his head suddenly spin widely.

"Shit. I didn't expect that to happen." sighing, the _Copy Cat_ cursed himself for not thinking of his actions sooner and enlightened the other four of his discovery, "He just read my thoughts."

"Tch… That accursed _Mangekyou Sharingan_ must have led him to that unknowingly." guessed Neji, hissing at the thought of those eyes.

"How the hell did he get it anyhow?" frowned Gai.

They all looked down at unconscious Naruto.

"We'll just have to find that out much latter. He is in no state for all this right now." said Neji, unable to erase the image of those blooded eyes he hated so much that now were in one of his best-friends.

"Kakashi-sensei… What did he find out?" asked Shikamaru; thinking that whatever Kakashi was having in that mind of his, Naruto must've seen or read it with that _Sharingan_.

"If he understands such things as death and dimensions… Then everything."

"Things have just started for the worst. He is too young." running his hand through thick dark hair, Asuma blew out a whiff of grey smoke. "And I won't even mention his encounter with _that_ Uchiha."

"The fact that he has Sharingan will not be ignored." giving his line of thought, Gai joined in, "Itachi will come after him soon."

"Let him come." hissed Kakashi, brushing away a trail of blood from little Naruto's cheeks, "I will make him regret he ever met Naruto."

* * *

Staring down at the vivid streets, filled with ignorant people, four figures stood above the village's grand walls absorbingly.

"Eee…so this is the very famous Leaf village everyone is always so frightened of? Looks pretty pathetic to me." lightly chuckled a young man of fifteen years.

"It doesn't have to look it, Suigetsu… It just is." commented a cool, impartial voice of a tall black-haired.

"I don't understand, Sasuke. Why did we have to come back here for?" complained a red-headed girl, tugging at unmoving Sasuke's arm.

"Actually, no-one asked you to come, Karin." waving her off, mumbled irritated sword carrier.

"Shut up, Suigetsu!! I'm not talking to you!"

"Both of you shut up!" growled Sasuke. "We're here to retrieve the scroll containing secrets to my clan. The sooner we'll get it, the sooner we'll be able to leave. So let's get this over with!"

Mimicking Sasuke behind his back, Suigetsu followed after him, barely dodging Karin's punch for mocking her 'prince'.

The last participant stopped watching the flying birds and jumped after them over the wall.

* * *

Concealed behind a _transformation_ jutsu, Sasuke and his new team members walked Konoha's streets undetected.

"Ne, Sasuke. Rumors say that you have had a close interaction with one of this village's famous two guardians. Is it true? Were you _that_ kind a close?"

Flinching inwardly at the mention of one participant, Sasuke grumbled out, "None of your business, Suigetsu."

'_Ha-ha! Someone sure is in a foul mood._' smirking at the reaction this gave the glaring Uchiha, Suigetsu looked around as he decided to push a few more buttons, "Ah…it would be interesting to meet them though. But it's strange, if they really are as good as everyone gives them credit for it, why have they not yet detected us for intruding and entering? Hmm, I wonder where they are now…"

"Doesn't matter! We're here for only one thing, and we shall get it."

'_Hmph. Why does Sasuke always become so distant every time this_ guardian_ is brought into conversation? Tsk, what does he/she has that is so important to him that we can't give? People in this village look nothing of impression.'_ Looking at every person in criticism, Karin abruptly stopped talking to herself as her sensitive sense caught something very interesting.

Turning to the direction of the village's entrance, she blinked at five Leaf shinobi entering, one of which looked to be holding a covered child in his arms.

"What is it?" She jumped as Sasuke suddenly appeared closely behind her. _'Oh I love it when he does that. His voice is so manly. It sends divine chills down my-…'_

"'Khem'…" forcing perverted thoughts away, she adjusted her stylish glasses. "No-nothing…, probably just a slight disjunction of chakra."

Examining the people she caught her eye on, Sasuke's own eyes narrowed when they recognized his former teacher Kakashi.

"That's Hatake Kakashi right? Was he the one who you said has the Sharingan eye?"

Glancing down at Karin, Sasuke nodded, "Yes. Why you ask?"

"Oh no, nothing of trouble. It was just strange to feel a person of such huge amount of powerful chakra radiating from him. Those eyes must really be something. I never thought anyone could even posses such an incredible amount of pressuring force. …Erm…That is, of course, besides you!" she quickly added, smiling from ear to ear at her 'dream-boy'.

"Hn," ignoring her, Sasuke took one more look at Kakashi and for instance he thought their eyes met, but the next thing he knew, Kakashi and his team were gone. "Let's go." he commanded and they continued to the Uchiha compound.

* * *

"Lie him down," pointing on the empty bed, Sakura quickly rushed over to shut the blinds, while Kakashi carefully placed little Naruto on the soft bed.

"Is he injured anywhere?"

'_Not as much physically as mentally,'_ shamefully thought the _Copy Cat_. "No, just some light bruises. Though check his arm… that, however, might be broken." Sitting on an empty chair not too far from the bed, Kakashi slumped in silence as Sakura began to treat the little child's fragile body.

Burying his hands in his hair, Kakashi breathed in a deep inhale. _'What have I done…'_

* * *

Sitting by the left side of the bed, Tsunade subconsciously rubbed a thumb over the bandaged little hand.

"…Mangekyou you say?" she asked, still taking in to everyone already known and spread information.

Gripping his crossed arms tighter, Kakashi answered with an empty 'yes', peering unfocussed at the night's dark sky throughout the window. It was already past six hours since he brought Naruto back and the boy still showed no signs of waking up.

Frowning at a day-long despondent Jounin, she tried to cheer up the mood. "Well…, at least now we know who the culprit behind Temari's and Iruka's lost consciousness was. He must've placed them under quite a _genjutsu_."

Finding no humor in it, Kakashi still kept silent; still depressed that little Naruto had to find the truth in such an unfair way and still blaming himself for letting that happen.

Getting nowhere far with him, she decided to just go straight ahead, "Listen Hatake, no one is accusing you for what happened. What is done is done. Nobody is at fault. Further than that – no one even _knew_ Naruto possessed such an expensive gift…"

"It's not a _gift_, Lady Hokage!" turning to glared at her, Kakashi spat out in anger, "It's a _curse_! You have no idea what it might do to him!"

Narrowing her brows, Tsunade retorted with favor, "I have seen what it has done to _you_…, and as far as it went you have not _yet_ complained."

"The fact that I have never shown my disinclination towards it _doesn't_ mean I have reconciled!" Lowering his voice, he still held venom in every spoken sentence, "Those, who own these eyes, are never contained, Hokage-sama. We see things others don't….

Besides that, Naruto has a special power that flows in every vein of Namikaze's being… – he can read people emotions; finding lies, pain and deepest of feelings hidden within a person – be it a stranger or a close friend.

And how do you think he will react when, combining his ability together with Mangekyou, he will see _our_ Naruto's past through yours or anyone else's eyes?

Everything we did to him… every mistake. He'll see everything that Naruto lived through – whether it had been painful or not! …And in every one of those aspects he will see himself in Naruto's place, …which will surely break him.

He _won't_ be able to live this dimension's facts down, because Naruto's life has been anything but good.

Further than that, he doesn't even know us. In his current condition it is very dangerous for him to be here.

There will be no trust. He will hate us."

Tsunade's eyes shut close, "Are you suggesting me that I should just go ahead and _rob_ this boy from his sight then?! …So he won't have to witness it all, huh? Is that what you want me to do?!"

"That's not what I'm suggesting!"

"Really?! Then tell me what else should I do to prevent all this from happening, because, forgive me, but I don't see any other way around it. Tell me how, Hatake!?"

"I don't know!! I just…" Kakashi yelled out before quickly silencing himself up and turning back to the night so as to hide the appearing pain in his eye, "I just want Naruto to have a normal life. Even if it is through this boy."

Brushing away a strand of hair from the little child's face, Tsunade brought the covers over his chest and sighing she stood up to head for the door. Turning the knob silently open, she looked one more time at Kakashi's back and whispered before exiting, "If you really want Naruto to have a life… Then just give it to him."

"How?"

"By showing that you care."

Looking pass his shoulder, Kakashi watched as the doors clicked close behind her.

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_**è **__Thank ya so very much for the reviews:_ Yoko. no. unmei, MadMonki, sousie, -siarafaerie-101-miss, DiaryAnjo or RisingSunRemix, Kisanei, BrokenBloodDrops, narubby23, Naruto Namikaze the Legend, dashllee, realworldiscruel, Twisted Vixen, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Whiteinu1, enchanted nightingale & That's Nice!

_**è **__replies to chp #23:_

That's Nice – Hahah, sorry 'bout the crueltyXDD & thank ya!;))

enchanted nightingale – ^.^

Whiteinu1 – ^.^

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – ^.^ heheh, thank ya!XDD & be patient;))

Twisted Vixen – Hahaha, ya got it! ^.^ Thank ya so very much!XDD

realworldiscruel – Thank ya soo muchXDD

dashllee – Heh, it's gettin' close to thatXDD

Naruto Namikaze the Legend – Sorry, English ain't my native language

narubby23 – ^.^ thank ya!XDD

BrokenBloodDrops – Thank ya!XDD ^.^

Kisanei – They just mightXDD Thank ya! ^.^

DiaryAnjo or RisingSunRemix – Hahah, thank ya very muchXDD

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sousie – XDThank ya very much!;))

MadMonki – ^.^ so many questionsXDD All will be answered soon;)) & thank ya!XD

Yoko. no. unmei – ^.^ Heheh, no worriesXDD This chp was probably not what ya waited for;)) …but anyways, the mission will start on the next;)


	25. Chapter 25

'_**Chapter 25'**_

* * *

Try as it might, the twitch in his eye just couldn't stop twitching; instead it only grew by each passing step he took closer to the Hokage's office; fully aware of the people in there and fully aware of his rising temper from what kind of people were there exactly.

'_You can do this, Uzumaki! You can do this! All you need to do is get there and make those damn arrangements for the upcoming mission with those …grr… men. Sounds simple enough.'_ Sighing, Naruto stopped before the door and fisted his hand in a secret attempt to slam it through the wood, though in the end settled with a 'calm' knock…

"…I'm only telling you that you shouldn't have volunteered…" …Naruto's hand stopped midway and his ears perked up. "…Naruto is not in his best regards towards you. It could jeopardize the mission."

"I can deal with him." The words said from the particular case only made the blond's eye begin twitching again. _'That does it! I'm killing him during the mission!'_

"You barely know him." reasoned the gentle voice he knew his father had whenever he talked to that … Uchiha.

"And neither does anyone else." contradicted the other, "It would have been just the same with any other chosen watcher for him."

"Itachi…"

"I know what I'm doing father."

An internal visualization seemed to shatter into million crystal pieces, as Naruto's eyes snapped open despite the fold. _'… …f…fa…Father?!!…'_

"Besides…, I want to test that strength of his to the fullest."

"This past week wasn't enough for you?" frowned Minato.

"Not even close."

Interrupted from his next statement, Minato's eyes narrowed at the sudden light knock by the door. _'Strange… I didn't sense anyone coming.'_ "Enter!"

The door cracked open and a yellow-red haired teen came into view; crossing his arms he leant against the doorframe with a large smirk stretching out. "Why hello there, ……_family_."

* * *

"Well would you look at that…" smirking beyond sadism, the go-crazy blond thought that after this day the twitch in his eye will become like a second stage of blinking. "…Not only do I have to deal with the fact that our beloved _Yondaime_ is stealing the precious oxygen by been too alive, Orochimaru turning out to be one of his most trustful men, Akatsuki becoming Konoha's allies, Uchihas living widely spread as hell, …BUT seems that we've _also_ got ourselves a vacant case of a brotherly bondage that 'needs' to be strapped and tied together _tight_ between yours truly and Mr. I'm-better-than-you!!  
Urgh!! …Now all I need to wonder is how I fit in this whole crap!? Hmm…Well I don't know? Let me think!! … …Oh, guess what – I believe that judging by the roles – _I_ am supposed be the wickedly evil badass brat of a brother/son-or-whatever, who is dedicating his life for nothing other than to _obliterate_ his biological father, whilst the _foster_ son over there is trying to save his pathetic ass from my wrath of mercilessness… GHA! This is nuts!! And I won't even mention that I have to go on a fucking _mission_ with him!! Bha!! Now Tell Me – how much more _fun_ can my life get, Gaara?!"

"…" all Gaara managed to do was open his mouth.

"Simple… IT JUST CAN'T, DAMN IT!" growled furious blond and threw the spinning ball of chakra into the lake, where it exploded, blowing up the water high in the air and producing a light rain from its splatter.

"AAArgh!! What a Heck is wrong with this place!?" Stomping the ground with his foot, Naruto started accusing everything around him. "What am I doing here?! This is a preposterous mush of baldercrap! I can't fucking believe this!!"

Sighing, Gaara rubbed his temples. "I don't see why you're so worried about this all of a sudden?"

"Who says I'm worried?!" squealed the blond irritably.

Ignoring him, Gaara pocketed his hands. "Namikaze being Uchiha's godfather and Uchiha calling him father should be the least of your worries. For what differences does it make? You hate them both anyways."

"Because that's what gets on the nerves! It's too weird seeing my father with that red-eyed 'pretty-boy' at such a close relationship! GHAAH…I hate it!! Someone kill me already!!"

'…'_my father', huh…'_ "Are you sure this is the only reason for your frantic actions now?" indifferently wondered the red-head.

"Dah, it is!!"

"…You don't sound too convinced. Perhaps it is something else? Can't you find any other reason?"

"What are you getting at?"

Shrugging, Gaara shared his thoughts, "I don't know, it could always be …jealousy."

"… ?!…?! …a What?!!"

An 'invisible'-brow rose up, "Are you jealous of them, Naruto?"

Naruto's expression changed dramatically and he spluttered, "…je-je…-ah-…-lous…?! m-ME?! THE FU-…?!"

"Uh-huh…thought so."

The blond practically exploded, "…YOU THOUGHT WRONG, IDIOT!! I am _not_ jealous!!"

"Ok-ok…I believe you," rising his hands, Gaara waved him off defenselessly and no doubt skeptically.

"What a fuck's with that tone, _rodent_!? I said I ain't jealous!! BECAUSE I AIN'T!!"

"Alright!! Be it as you think, if it makes you to shut up."

"Tch. Yea well…, ya know what? Screw you! I'm out a here!" finding no clever comeback and finally done with the yelling, Naruto stormed into the woods.

"Tsk," spitting on the ground, Gaara also turned around and walked back to the lake.

* * *

"…me… …_jealous_…?! Hah!! Of bloody fucking WHAT!?" cutting branch after branch on his way, Naruto debated with his remaining logics. "Urgh!! He's wrong! I am not jealous!! I CAN'T BE!!"

Murmuring to himself throughout the whole forest, Naruto didn't notice that he was already in front of the village's gates until he began sensing the rising pressure from poor citizens on his way.

Stopping in the middle of the street, he turned his head up and frowned at the frozen breaths of the people staring at him. Baring his teeth, he let out an aggressive hiss. "What are _you_ staring at!?"

And like that, the citizens practically flew or dug holes out to get away from him.

"Hahahaha…" unable to hold in a laugh, which panged him on the inside, Naruto shook his head at the now 'desert-clear' street and continued his path down it, "…thought so much."

* * *

"Oh yeeeah! Ahhh… tell me if I'm in heaven or am I in super _heaven_!" giggling in bliss, Jiraiya's cheeks reddened as he peered through the little hole in the fence that separated women's hot spring from men's. "Yesss…, I can see – I can see them revealing! Hihihihihihi…"

Tying a towel around his waist, Naruto entered the springs and froze at the indescribably familiar presence in it. Narrowing his brows tight, Naruto grit his teeth at both – the annoying twitch forming in his eye again, and that perverted _toad_-Sannin. "STOP THAT, DAMN PERVERT!!" unable to hold, he roared out, slamming his foot into his perverted-'sensei's' behind which successfully pushed him aside and into the hot water.

"YHAAIII!" slamming face first into the water, Jiraiya hopped out of it faster than a frog – all red and fuming. "WHO DAR-…huh? …AAh! It's you…, Little Brat!!"

"Don't call me brat, hermit! What a hell do you think you're doing, peeking through that hole?"

"Shhh…, keep it down! You'll scare away my research!"

"Your _research_, huh?" crossing his arms, Naruto scowled as Jiraiya skipped back to the fence and peered over it, checking if the girls were still there. "And what research might that be exactly?"

"Oh, nothing illegal, just… well… Ahh, forget it. You're too little to understand anyway, so there's no need to bother. …But you run along now and go get yourself into a kitty-pool, I hear it's nice and warm there!"

The twitch was becoming annoying. "… …a _what_ pool?!"

"Hihihihi…"

A vein popped out and Naruto slammed his fist into the wooden fence – breaking the whole damn wall that separated the gender springs into pieces.

"AAAAAAAHHH…" grabbing towels, the girls sprang from the water and shouting ran away.

"GHAAA!! LOOK AT WHAT YOU'VE DONE!!" screamed Jiraiya, crying over his runaway 'research' and gave chase. "No please, come back!!"

"Tsh…" Dunking into the water till the waist, Naruto leant against the side with a content sigh.

"Alright you!!" stomping back, Jiraiya came behind the relaxing blond and glared at him. "Now what do you have to say for yourself!!"

"Thanks for the show, really appreciated it."

"You littl-…"

"Holly Hell, did you finally lose it Master-Jiraiya?!" entering the springs, Deidara gasped at the demolished place until his unhidden eye caught something else, "…Huh? Who's that behind y-…AH! It's you! Again!"

The blond personality did nothing to calm Naruto down. _'Will I ever get some damn peace!?'_

"What got you so 'excited' about?" entering after the tall blond, Shisui stopped as soon as he saw that all too familiar teen. "Well hello there, little kitten!"

"Grrr… Shut a fuck up!!" turning around, Naruto threw a charka containing ball of water at the grinning Uchiha, though he missed as his target quickly ducked down and instead, the ball smacked into another entering person…

"GHu…" dropping down from the sudden harsh impact, Hidan growled as he stood up, "What the Hell!?!"

"…err…" reaching for the towel, Naruto believed it was time to 'get'.

"OOhhhh! A spring party! Who wants to play?! Tobi does!!" jumping over Hidan, Tobi ran for the hot spring.

'_The hell…I'm outa here!' _grabbing his towel, Naruto prepared to run for it, not particularly sure how many more of them were gonna show up and unlikely wanting to stay long enough to find that out.

"GHA!" unfortunately he didn't make it as Tobi jumped and tackled him under the water.

"Whoo!! Pileup!" mimicking his cousin, Shisui didn't want to miss all the fun and dived in, splashing Deidara from head to toe.

"Will you stop that!! You're acting like idiots!" _'Although how's _that_ any different from usual?'_ growled Deidara, calmly composing himself and entering the water in a graceful manner, as if showing an example of 'pristine'.

Gasping for air, Naruto coughed and spluttered between two laughing Uchihas who surfaced after him. "…I…I'm a…I'm gonna kill you!!" he roared, fisting his knuckles yet yelped as his ankles were suddenly grabbed and he was pulled under the water again.

"Cool down, hothead! Although it ain't possible here." grinned Hidan, surfacing atop Naruto's previous spot.

Unable to stay annoyed at them for ruining his beautiful 'investigation', Jiraiya sighed and took a set on the chair near the spring. "Hey now, don't infuriate him till the borders. Otherwise one of us is actually going to die here."

"Hah…yea right," smirked the silver-haired, smirking even wider as Naruto slowly surfaced from the water like a 'lochness', all wet with long bangs covering his glaring face and gritting teeth.

"Any last words?" Naruto hissed through his teeth.

"Only a few," Hidan grinned and outstretched his hand. "How 'bout we call it truce? Just for now."

Blinking his blooded eyes in slight starlet and grand wary, Naruto soon found a smirk of his own and grabbed the man's hand in a firm grip, "A truce, huh…?" Tightening his hold on the pale hand, Naruto suddenly swung his other hand up and punched Hidan in the nose.

"The Fuck are you doing, brat!?!" yelled Hidan.

"…_Now_, it's truce!" sneered the blond, shaking hands with the glaring silver-haired.

* * *

Resting his elbows on the hot-spring's sides, Naruto narrowed his brows as he sank into a deep thought. _'This is stupid! Why the hell do I feel so tranquil with the Akatsuki here unlike I did back in my own dimension? They aren't the same. Could it be that they were once like this before even in my time? Tch… I bet! It would have taken a miracle for me to believe that ever happening.'_

Raising his blooded eyes up, he looked across from him at the darkness, where all he could feel was their radiating energy.

Spotting Deidara's chakra, Naruto smirked to himself, _'Gaara would've never lived that down. He would probably get quite a shock from it before just going on and killing him to never face the horror again. I wonder how he's taking all this?'_ Blinking abruptly, he lowered his lids,_ '… …Actually…I have never even found time to care much about his feelings on this whole dimensional ordeal. It was always just about me… me and not him. All I saw were my problems and none else. … …God, I'm such a selfish jerk!'_

Opening eyes from his relaxed position, Deidara brushed away the wet bangs from his eyes and looked at the smaller blond from across him. "Why such a long face?" he asked, breaking the twenty minute long silence that's been between them after their little 'war-game' of introductions.

"Gaara doesn't like you very much, huh…" Deidara blinked at the sudden statement.

"And how does _that_ has anything to do with your sad face? What? Worried about me?" he teased.

"Not you…, frankly I couldn't care less," simply replied Naruto, forcing Deidara to suppress a throbbing vein. "I want you to stay away from him."

Now everyone else was looking at them both. Jiraiya quickly understood that it had something to do with their world, but the others didn't know of it; all they knew was that Naruto's Minato's son and Gaara – Temari's brother.

Deidara's eyes narrowed. "Is that brother of yours delusional or something, hm? Why does he hate me? I have never encountered him in my life…yet he glares at me like there's no tomorrow."

"Just stay away from him," sighed the blond, not satisfying either of the participants in the spring. "It's for your own good."

"I think I'll decide on that." gritted the other. "Now tell me what a Hell is the damn problem!?"

Sending him a glare, Naruto answered, "Let's just say you remind him very much of a person who has nearly killed him once."

Shisui's eyes slightly widened, _'That sure must have been hell of a strong person then, if he came as close to that as he did.'_

"Is he dead now?"

"Seeing how Gaara reacts to you, apparently not _yet_." Lying was like a second nature to Naruto, though it didn't feel like it now, since most of the story he's telling was more than partly true.

"Maa… poor Deidara-san," looking at the blond, Tobi looked sympathetic, if one ignores the mocking tone.

"Shut the Hell up, Tobi!"

"Whaaat?! I didn't do anything!"

"God, you're both obnoxious! Quiet it down before I break your legs," growled Hidan.

"Oh, come on… we're all friends here. Lighten up!"

"Huh?" _'Friends?'_ Naruto blinked at that. _'To think about it… What am I doing here? Why the hell am I even_ talking_ to them?! Bhaa…The stupid spring must have drugs in it! This is all so twisted.'_ groaning, he grabbed hold of the towel and climbed out of the spring.

Smirking at an eyeful of sight, Shisui let out a wolfish whistle… and a second latter got a wet towel thrown into his face.

Grumbling something incoherent, Naruto tied a dry towel around the waist and exited the spring.

Arching a brow, Hidan looked after him, "That was sudden."

Blinking, Jiraiya suddenly woke up. "Hey! Wait a minute! Who's gonna pay for the broken fence!!"

* * *

Warming his hands in his pockets from the night's cool breeze, Naruto stepped into the area and searched about. "Kyuubi. Where's Gaara?"

Opening an eye, the demon regarded the blond with a foggy stare before looking up on the tall hill rather afar from them. "Somewhere up on the hill." He grumbled sleepily.

'_What a hells with all the sleeping? Tch…, lazy tails,'_ 'tsk'-ing at him, Naruto headed off to find his 'brother'.

* * *

"Hey."

Looking past his shoulder, Gaara frowned at his best-friend's sheepish smile. "Hey," he said in a somewhat questioning tone.

"Mind if I sit?"

The red-head blinked at the weird question and his frown deepened. "Why do you even have to ask?"

Sitting beside him, Naruto dangled his legs over the edge of the high hill. "I a… thought maybe you'd like to have a moment alone?"

Gaara looked at him strangely, "Why would you think that all of a sudden?"

Rubbing his neck, Naruto shrugged and tapped his feet against the edge. "I…umm… am I a……you know… a burden to you…or anything…?"

Gaara began to glare. "What's wrong with you? You drunk?"

"…no-… What!? No!! I am not drunk!!"

"Then what's with all this sudden pitiful mood?! You act like a stupid brat who stole something and is about to get it!"

"Argh!!" shooting up on his feet, Naruto jammed a finger at him, "You are insensitive! Can't a friend just come by and ask his brother how he's feeling without getting accused for his niceness?!"

'…_niceness? Riiight…'_ "Alright, confess, what a heck did you drink?"

"I didn't drink, darn it!! I just thought that all I ever do is burden you with all my problems and never pay any attention concerning you!! So I'm trying to fix it by being nice!!"

Blinking at him, Gaara's eyes lidded and he gave a small chuckle. "You're concerned, huh?"

Puffing out his cheeks, Naruto crossed his arms. "I always am… I just don't show it much. I'm sorry ok…"

Tugging at his t-shirt, Gaara pulled him back down to sit. "You don't have to show it like that. I already know that you care of what's happening to me without doing anything intentionally."

Lowering his head, Naruto fidgeted with his nails. "Well…it's not like… it's just… All these happenings that are going around…they sorta made me forget about you and your feelings."

"And I'm glad that it all happened." Gaara assured straightly, not liking the blond's words. "For once they made you think of yourself…, of what you want. It's not selfish…nothing regarding you is ever selfish."

Rubbing his nose, Naruto turned away as his cheeks reddened, "Will you stop flattering me?"

Smiling at the sky, Gaara looked further beyond the wide lake…; somewhere behind it and the rest part of the huge forest was the ocean that Naruto will have to cross for his mission tomorrow…

…which reminded him. "Are you ready?"

Catching the meaning of Gaara's darkening voice, Naruto understood that he was referring to the mission.

"No," was the truthful reply, and Gaara was content with it, because with Naruto those meanings were always the other way around.

"Good."

* * *

Early morning…

Gripping his bag slugged over one shoulder, Naruto's brows furrowed as he faced a tall ship ported by the harbor. _'That sure is a large plank.'_ He thought to himself.

Glancing to the side, Gaara looked at the people gathered. There were all of the heads of the five nations alongside with their councilors and chosen men for the mission, talking between one another.

"Naruto."

Turning around, Naruto let a small smile show as Temari and Sarutobi came over. The girl stepped closer and griped him by his shoulders. "Please be careful." she said, "I don't know if you know it or not, but the roads you are to cross are very dangerous. A lot of men were killed during their travels there."

"Like that's any different from usual…"

"Please…" scolding his sarcasm, Temari looked away, "Just heed what I say. The places which you shall pass so as to find the '_Missing Rose_' have lost of strange and unpredictable …how should I put it?… _hindrances_, that might become as more than a slight difficulty to overcome on your way."

Smiling, Naruto said, "You know…, were we in my time, I would say: 'you know me and there's nothing that can be more unpredictable than me'; however…" _'…you don't.'_

Nodding in understanding, she gave him a small hug and came to stand by her red-headed 'brother's' side.

Pulling the boy over to him, Sarutobi took his hand and placed something rather familiar in it. "Take this," he said, "It might come in handy."

Frowning at the feel of the three edged kunai-like weapon he was already acquainted with, Naruto turned his head slightly over his shoulder, feeling Namikaze's eyes on him. "Is it-…"

"It is." answering the blond's unfinished question, Sarutobi pulled Naruto into a tight hug. "He asked me to give it to you."

"I don't want it!" Naruto quickly rejected, pushing it back for the Old-man to take.

Sandaime just shook his head and stepped back. "You might not know how to actually use it, but it still might be of a great help."

"Use it? Hah! It's just a simple kunai with a handy design."

Chuckling at the boy's naivety, Sarutobi messed up his hair. "Don't jump to conclusions, boy. It's unbecoming for a ninja."

"'Hmph'," sticking out his bottom lip, Naruto abruptly flinched at the sudden loud yell coming from the ship,

"Enough stalling, runt!! Let's go!!" shouting from the board, the Lightning's chosen watcher – Kirabi smirked as Naruto flipped him a finger without turning around.

"Guess that's my call," hissing at the unwillingness, Naruto turned to Gaara and gave him a stretched grin. "Take care while I'm gone."

Nodding, Gaara gave him a quick one arm embrace and whispered into his ear, "Promise me to hold your emotions under control."

Sighing and mumbling a silent 'I promise', Naruto tried to pull away but Gaara tightened his hold. "And please, at least _try_ not to kill Uchiha during your mission. Asking you to get along with him will probably be pointless anyways."

"Glad to hear you know me so well."

"_Naruto_!"

"Urgh! Fine!" Grumbling lots of curses in his head, Naruto struggled out a second 'promise'.

Nodding, Gaara could only hope he'll keep them.

"I'll miss you, Gaara," Stepping away from the red-head, Naruto outstretched his hand upwards, "Look after Kyuubi. Bye Temari. Later Old-man."

"Old-man?" Sarutobi blinked.

Giving him a short wave, Gaara watched as he turned and skipped an unsure glance at his afar standing 'father's' direction.

A glare formed on the blond-teen's face, before he gripped the kunai tight and with a snort went up the wooden stairs onto the ship, Itachi unhurriedly stepping after him.

The others waved their 'goodbyes' as ropes were let loose and sails released.

Closing his eyes, Minato's lips lightly twitched upwards; and turning around, he began his way back to the village.

Catching the man leave, Gaara took one more glimpse at the departing ship and went after him.

Knowing who was following, Minato slowed long enough for the red-head to catch up. "Hello, Gaara. Something I can do for you?" he asked with a small smile.

Pocketing his hands and stepping with his pace, Gaara looked straight forward. "We should talk."

* * *

Getting farther and farther away from the dry-land and into the deep ocean with nothing but total strangers and 'blacklist' unfortunates as companions, Naruto could only sigh, _'This odd to be interesting. Maybe I should've brought a diary with me?'_

Feeling a certain someone coming to stand by his side, Naruto bit his tongue to suppress a hiss and turned his head away, resting his elbow on the railing and leaning his scarred cheek against his hand …looking rather stubborn.

Sparing him a mere glimpse, Itachi raised an eyebrow at the boy's deep scowl. "Something wrong, Naruto-kun?" he asked, already knowing the reason of the boy's sour look, but still wanting to know if he'll actually say it in his face.

"Now _why_ would you think _that_?" hissing past his fingers, Naruto began tapping his other hand against the wooden railing.

"Weren't it for your stretched face I might have not even asked."

"Oh how noticeable of you, Mr. Uchiha. I would be glad to answer, but I'm afraid I'll actually _snap_!"

Itachi began to fight off the quickly forming frown. "Do you have a problem, Naruto-kun?"

"Yes! I do!" turned to him sharply, Naruto straightened out his whole form; unfortunately it wasn't enough to tower above the proud Uchiha. "Why the hell did _you_ have to be my watcher? Of _all_ people!? I mean – anyone else would do!!"

This time Itachi didn't hide his frown. "Because unlike _anyone else_, I know how to deal with the likes of you!"

"The likes of _me_!?"

"To sustain someone as obstinate as yourself one has to posses nerves of iron, which by luck I happen to have. Thus, I'm here."

"Good god, go thank your prayers for such a _unique_ talent, you arrogant jerk!"

Glaring at the grumbling blond's back which he turned to him, Itachi said, "Even arrogance has its own unique ways, boy. You ought to know that; though I believe it's obvious why you don't, being as ignorant as you are."

Naruto's vein popped and he turned around fast enough to make himself dizzy. "_What_ did you say?!"

Closing his eyes, Itachi ignored the boy's suffocating aura and pocketed his hands. "Be it to your fortune or not, but you and I are comrades now, Naruto-kun. Whenever it shall be asked from you, you'll _act_ like one."

Opening his eyes, Itachi let his _Sharingan_ glimmer as he gave out an indirect warning, "And whether you like it or not – you'll just _have_ to _deal with it_!" saying nothing more, he turned and calmly walked off.

Grabbing his hair, Naruto tried not to scream out loud or perhaps to simply jump overboard to save himself the trouble of _dealing with it_. "Argh!! Fuck my promise!! Where the hell did I put that kunai?! I'm gonna gut him!!"

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_Not much of a mission, but it's a start;))_

_Small notice:_

_The story will be now based on both parts of the boys' worlds; it'll go from one world to the other – N&G as lil'children & N&G as teenagers. _

_The next chp might be about the lil'boys again, for their role is rather relevant to this story. & as for after – I'll let the mission go its length._

_Thanks to the reviewers –_ Conflicted Soul, Whiteinu1, MadMonki, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Servant of Nature, Yoko. no. unmei, That's Nice, random alias, narubby23 & gagougae!

_Replies:_

gagougae – thank ya very much for the review!XD Sorry, but lil' Naruto & Gaara have an effect to this story & therefore they must stay;))

narubby23 – ya can say I'll have to go from one world to the other so as to try & explain how everything went as it did;))

random alias – thank ya soo very much!XD

That's Nice – Thank ya!XD For lil'Naruto's eyes ya can say 'it's entirely sth else'XD though I'll explain it in later chps;))  
Itachi is supposedly good in both worlds & as for Madara – Naruto didn't know anything about him;)

Yoko. no. unmei – Yo! Hahah! Thank ya!XD The thing with lil'Naruto's eyes will be explained later for there are many other things that need clearance;) though you already partly guessed what's the deal with Naruto & _Sharingan_;))

Servant of Nature – sorry 'bout the confusion;) Right now I placed in N&G's original dimension to show what's happenin' in there, & frankly to make everything even weirder than it is alreadyXD I'll try explaining it later…;)

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – Yes, I know!XDD I'm getting used to the nickname nowXDD Anyway, I'll keep the reputation & go on confusing ya;)) Nhaa…kidding, I'll explain 'bout Naruto & _Sharingan_ a bit later, 'kay;)) Thank ya so much!XD

MadMonki – Thank ya!XDD Sorry 'bout not placing in the mission, though I had to finally show the other side too;)) Lil'Gaara will have sth other than _Sharingan_ but I'll tell 'bout all that latter as well as everything else;))

Whiteinu1 – thanx;)) I ain't certain who to place Gaara up with yet. He's personality doesn't fit the standards for the romance…, at least, not nowXD

Conflicted Soul – Hey! Guess I should say I didn't know that ya're back, but I didXDD Anyways, thank ya so much for the review!;))  
Nhaa… that chp wasn't a filler. The original dimension has a rather big role in this story & that's why I placed it, though still – thank ya!XD  
God, such energetic emotions for Madara's death;D I guess it's only fair to tell ya that, yes, he'll be dead; I don't want to mix him in the story anyway – it's already too confusing as it is;))  
& as for Naruto's _Sharingan_ – I don't think I'm _that_ evil;)) Anyhow, I'll explain it in later chps:)  
Thank ya again!XDD


	26. Chapter 26

'_**Chapter 26'**_

_(Lil'child)_

* * *

Leaning against the old stool in the Uchiha district, Suigetsu rolled around a kunai between his fingers. "You found anything?" he asked as Sasuke came from the basement.

"No," the young Uchiha grumbled, slamming the doors behind him. "It's not here."

"Perhaps you should check the other houses?" Karin suggested.

"If it isn't here, it means it has already been taken away." Walking pass the tall orange haired absorbing some paintings on the wall, Sasuke stepped in front of the window.

Karin blinked after him, "Taken? By whom? Where to?"

"Only to the most well guarded place in this entire village," he replied, setting eyes directly on the Hokage Tower.

* * *

…

"…_dimensions?…"_

"…_It's a trivial-myth…"_

…

"…_on the sixth day…of the sixth month…"_

…

"_What are you doing?…"_

…

"…_why does it hurt…"_

…

"…_you are…a sacrifice…"_

"…_like us…"_

…

Opening deep-red eyes, the boy looked unfocussed at the dark ceiling illuminated by only the slightest light given from the moon.

Turning to the side he examined the dark room he was in. The blank four-wall was filled with all sorts of medical equipments he had once seen his grandma use. _'Why isn't she here?'_

Looking further around, his eyes then settled on a resting figure in a far shadowed corner. It was _that_ man…. The man whom he had trusted and who had taken everything away from him – his home…, his father… and his life.

Feeling tears spill from his eyes, the child slowly turned around and pushed his small feet over the high bed's edge; not knowing that that very same man was absorbing his every move.

Sliding down the sheets, he peddled over to the window. Reaching for its handle, his eyes grew when he saw it was ripped off; trying to push the window someway up or down was soon found useless as he just couldn't get it opened.

Turning to look back at the door, emissions spilled as he saw that the open escape was of no use either. The man just sat too close to them and there were other people outside.

Swallowing dry saliva, he hid behind the bed and buried his face in his knees; trying to stiffen his cries and hitches that just wanted to pour out.

Kakashi couldn't stand hearing the boy's heart breaking down in front of him. Standing up he approached him, making sure to make his presence known by each careful step.

"Come here." picking the small weight up, Kakashi sat down on the bed and allowed the child to keep a tight grip on him while he cried.

The close proximity and feeling of care only made little Naruto cry harder.

Rubbing the boy's back gently, Kakashi bit his tongue as the grip around his jacket tightened.

"… …I'm a…I'm sorry, …Naruto."

Rubbing away tears with his healed arm, the boy sniffed, "Where is my father, Hatake-san? Why did ya take me away from him?"

Running has hand through the boy's hair, Kakashi breathed out a sorrowful sigh. "I didn't take you, Naruto. No-one has taken you or your father away from you."

"Then why did ya show me he's dead? Don't lie! …your eyes… I saw!!" pounding his small fist against the Jounin's chest, the boy buried his face back into Kakashi's shoulder as another fit of deep cries forced themselves out.

Letting the boy settle down, Kakashi said, "What you saw in my eyes is not at all what you think is true. Your father isn't dead and neither is he a lost soul…, he is just very far-far away from us now."

Calming down some, the boy looked up at the grey-haired man. "…What do ya mean?"

Closing his eyes, Kakashi hoped he could explain this. "Naruto…, do you believe in wonders?"

* * *

The next day…

Stirring awake, Kakashi knitted his eyes in irritation at the peeking light shining through the curtains and thought about going back to sleep, though something gripping his shirt in a small clench woke him up fully. Opening one eye, he looked down and his expression softened, seeing the little blond sleeping on his chest.

They've been up all night – talking. Kakashi was explaining him the happened matters from an as positive aspect as he could, until he got so carried away that he never realized that he had lulled little Naruto to sleep through his story.

'…_such a cute kid…' _smiling lightly, the Jounin lay his head back on his bent elbow and looked up at the ceiling.

"Trying to fix what was lost, huh?" asked a sudden voice from the corner of the room.

Kakashi's eyes turned to regard the leaning Sannin by the window. "How long have you been standing there?"

"Hm…, as if you don't know."

"You're right. I do." Looking away, Kakashi rested his eyes close. "How's Gaara?"

"The kid's doing fine. Temari and Kankuro plan to take him to their village for a while so he can feel more at ease and calm down his shock. But they'll come back after some time so we can get through with this mess." Narrowing his eyes, Jiraiya then asked, "…Were you able to talk to Naruto?"

Nodding, Kakashi ran his fingers through the child's messy hair.

"Did you explain him everything?"

Kakashi's fingers stilled for a moment before continuing their travels. "…barely."

"How did he react?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Kakashi?"

The Jounin blinked away his afar gaze. "Huh? Sorry…what did you say?"

Sighing, Jiraiya rubbed his nose, _'Apparently he was through quite a night.'_ Instead of repeating himself he decided to ask something else, "Would you like me to look after him? Seems that you could use a little bit of a fresh air…or maybe some more sleep even."

"…no… I want to stay." Closing his eyes, Kakashi breathed out an exhale.

Nodding, Jiraiya looked back out the window when a small voice suddenly whispered out,

"…uncle?…"

Turning to look over his shoulder, Jiraiya blinked as his eyes met sleepy red.

* * *

Watching the fire consume the black form till the last pieces; nine figures kept silent for quite some time…

"What a waste," finally grumbled the dark side of the two faced Zetsu .

"The death of Madara was fun." smirked Hidan.

"If you count the fact that all your moves were useless at the beginning."

"You're an asshole, Kakuzu!"

"So what now?" asked the blue skinned male, looking over at their orange-haired leader.

"Indeed, what now?" agreed Zetsu from his white perspective.

"To be blunt, I do not care where you are going to go from now on."

The others looked at Pain with narrow eyes. "Are we disowning the 'Akatsuki'?"

"Do as you please…, but…" Not paying any mind to the others and further than that their curious looks, Pain locked eyes with the plant creature, "…Zetsu. There is something I'd like to know."

"What is it?"

"Where's Uzumaki Naruto?"

Interest at the matter perked up from all sides as Zetsu kept silent, looking Pain unblinkingly in the eye.

"We don't know." taking its time, answered the dark side while the white stayed unnervingly silent.

Pain's eyes narrowed, "The truth, Zetsu. Don't lie. I can see that you're hiding something."

'…_perhaps we should tell him…'_ hummed the white part to the black's further contradiction,

'…_we should not…'_

'…_it could be fun…'_

'…_it won't…'_

"There is a theory, Pain-sama," abruptly said the white side, making the black hiss. "…but it's only theoretical."

"What do you know?"

"A lot. The only thing is…will you be able to believe it?"

* * *

"Dimensions?" a well formed eyebrow rose up. "On what proof does it stand?"

Kabuto fixed his glasses. "On my eyes. Forgive me for having none other, but it is the only prove I have. You may do as you please, lord-Orochimaru."

Yellow eyes slit tight. "That's rather nonsensical, Kabuto. Are you telling me that I should take out your eyes so as to see for myself?"

"If it's what you want as proof enough."

Knitting his brows, Orochimaru regarded his right-hand man with skepticism before simply saying, "That won't be necessary. Come here."

Obeying the order, Kabuto kneeled before his master and tried not to flinch when Orochimaru dropped his hand onto his head. "Stay still." he said as his eyes lid close.

Rapidly, Orochimaru's hand began to glow violet as he searched the young man's memory for the right vision.

Sweat started to form on Kabuto's forehead and his eyes rolled to the back of his head as the jutsu began ripping his mind in hostile searches.

"I see," finally pulling his hand away from him, Orochimaru opened his eyes and watched as the grey-haired collapsed to the ground, panting.

"That's a very interesting study to observe." _'The abilities to open up gates into another world…. Though what a shame it didn't come without a sacrifice.'_ Smirking, Orochimaru brought his knuckles to his cheek and leant against them. "To think, that such a once worthless child could ever come so far as to become something as great as this. And just when I begin to consider that Naruto as my next vessel, he gives me the gift of a child with fully developed _Mangekyou __Sharingan_." Closing his eyes, Orochimaru felt overwhelmed as deep laughter filled his lungs. "I love that boy."

* * *

Picking up little small roses joining in on one stem, Sakura smiled as she walked over to Ino and showed her the pink little buds slowly revealing in growth. "Do you think he'll like them?"

"To be blunt, I never considered Naruto to be a flower type of guy, so I think that any given flower will do…especially if it comes from _you_," Ino grinned as she lightly elbowed the blushing girl.

"Shut up, Ino. God, you're such a pervert. Naruto is a little boy now, it's not like that'll matter anything."

Chuckling at her frustrated friend, Ino plucked off a white lily from the flowerpot and waved her mother a quick 'bye' before heading out of Yamanaka flower shop with Sakura following.

"Did you get him some stuff for the wear?"

"Ah, right. I left it back at my house. Let's just make a small detour there before heading off to the hospital."

Nodding Ino looked to the side as they passed a ramen stand and stopped. "What do you think?" she asked as she gestured to the food stand.

"Right. We should get that too…. …But…, do you think he'll like it?"

"If he's just like the Naruto we know, then yes," replied Ino as she headed for the stand.

Sighing, Sakura moved to follow her friend but stopped when she accidently bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm so sorry."

"Hn." was the inimical grunt.

Startled by a familiar remark, Sakura quickly looked up and blinked as her eyes met cold green instead of cold black.

A tall man with dark black hair towered over her before he bent down and picked up the fallen flowers by her feet. "You dropped this," he said and handed her the little roses.

"Ah…uh…th-thank you…?" stammering, Sakura took the flowers and looked back up to say something more but the man was already walking past her, paying no mind or interest.

Looking after him confused, Sakura felt a chill drop over her. _'What kind a feeling is this? He feels so familiar.'_

"Thank you, come again!" shouted the ramen cook as Ino walked out of the stand with a bag of warm ramen.

"Come on Sakura, let's go."

"Huh!?" blinking, the pink-haired girl finally took her eyes away from the mob where she last saw the man disappear and looked at her friend. "Oh, ah, …ramen. Right! You already bought one?"

Ino blinked at her weird behavior and looked to the direction she was so intensively staring at a few minutes ago, "Is something wrong? You ok?"

"Wha-? Yea, of course. I just thought I saw something. Anyways, let's go and get those clothes then." dismissing everything with a wave of her hand, Sakura smiled as she hooked her arm under Ino's elbow and both continued on their way.

Looking past his shoulder from the shadowed lights, the green eyed male's eyes narrowed as he watched the two girls depart. _'What did they mean: 'if he's like the Naruto they know'?'_

"Yo, Sasuke! What's the hold up?"

"Shut up, Suigetsu! Unless I need to beat it into your head for you to stop shouting out my name?"

"Ah right, pardon… All secret. Must've forgot. Wari."

'_Tch, moron.'_ Finally looking away from chuckling Sakura and Ino, the disguised Sasuke Uchiha pocketed his hands and turned to his three companions. "Did you manage to get an inn?"

"Yes, with a great opened view to the-…"

"Good. Let's go then." Not caring about the whole romance involved scene Karin tried to describe, Sasuke and the guys headed off, leaving pouting Karin trailing after.

* * *

"… …but that was beside the point. And the rest is history."

Itachi's eyes narrowed as he stared deeply at the green plant-like man, trying to bore into his mind and see any forms of slips or lies through his unlikely tale. Only laughs from the side, forced him to finally look away,

"You must've been sniffing too many plants, Zetsu. How could the runts possibly open up the gates to another time?"

"You are an idiot, Kisame," hissed Zetsu's dark side. "Demons are historic creatures gifted with limitless abilities of most ancient secrets known to world. You just won't understand."

Before the two could start getting on his nerves, Pain interjected, "Is there anything else?"

"…we should tell him about the child…" whispered Zetsu's white side.

"Shut u-…"

"What child?" hearing Zetsu breaking between his two mental personalities, Itachi's expression hardened as his interest perked on that statement.

"Why…the child of Konoha and Suna, of course." smiled the white side, much to the others displeasure. "The sky dropped Naruto and Gaara from above."

Pain's and Itachi's eyebrows rose up simultaneously while the others blinked. "Dropped?"

"Aa…Naruto and Gaara are little children now." Zetsu chuckled.

* * *

Kneeling before the bed, Jiraiya dropped to eyelevel with the waking child. "Hello Naruto."

Stretching out his hand, the little blond pressed a finger against the older man's cheek, sliding it down along the red line from his eye.

"Why 're ya crying?" he asked drowsingly.

Smiling, Jiraiya said out of habit, "Because I'm just too happy to see you."

That statement seemed to make the child relax; smiling, he closed his eyes and whispered before falling asleep on Kakashi's chest again. "…uncle."

The two men exchanged glances. Jiraiya seemed at a lost, while Kakashi appeared to be in understanding. "He remembers you from his world. You must've been his uncle there…still are."

"Hm," pocking the sleeping child's cheek playfully, Jiraiya grinned as blurry eyes opened up again. "You should wake up now, little man. Otherwise you're gonna have a headache for sleeping in so late."

Groaning, the boy merely turned him his back, "Go away, Ji. Le' me sleep."

"Hahaha…not in this world," laughing out, Jiraiya suddenly brought his hands up and began tickling Naruto into startled awaking.

Kakashi looked at Jiraiya in amassment; unable to hide a pang of jealousy at the way he could so easily handle the boy just by fooling around without having to waste a whole time in the night explaining the barely eight year old about dimensions, demons and otherworldly wonders.

"…Stop…e-enough uncle!" screamed Naruto, choking between laughs and cries.

"AH!" biting his tongue, Kakashi tried not to yell out as Naruto suddenly stood atop of his solar plexus and pushed down before jumping on the laughing Sannin. _'God that hurts!'_

Catching the child midway, Jiraiya hugged him tight. "Hi you little rascal!"

Drowning into the embrace a little longer, little Naruto finally let Jiraiya's neck go and let him sat him onto his left thigh as Jiraiya himself plopped into a nearby stool.

"So…how've you been?"

Tilting his head up, the blond looked the _toad_-Sannin in the eyes before losing his smile and turning away, looking hurt.

"What's wrong?"

"Ya don't have to pretend, Jiraiya-sama." changing tones in respectful approach, Naruto fisted his hands into his hospital white shorts. "I already know ya're not my real uncle. I can see."

Frowning, Jiraiya sighed, "That's right, I may not be your _exact real_ uncle…, but truth be told, in this world, I am something a little bit more close to you."

"But it is still not the same," murmured Naruto, shadowing his watery eyes.

"For me it is," said the hermit. "You may be from another world, yes, but that still doesn't change the fact that I love you. You are my little godson after all. And we are all the same here, Naruto. You have nothing to fear."

Looking up, boy's eyes glittered for a brief minute before a small smile was let out. "I am yer godson here?"

"Sure are." _'But unfortunately Naruto never knew that. Hate towards his father blinded everything else he could have found out.'_

Turning his eyes away, the boy looked out the window thinking. "Kakashi said that my…_older self_ was transported into…my world."

"…That's what we think happened." answered Jiraiya. "Heh, it's funny actually. Naruto always complained about boredom. Guess this situation sure bit him hard."

"Is…elder Naruto……evil?" abruptly asked the fidgeting blond.

Blinking, whether at the name or question, the Sannin chuckled. "Elder Naruto…? Evil? Hahaha. Whatever got you that idea?"

"I can see his hate in yer eyes."

Chewing on his lower lip, Jiraiya wondered what to say to that.

Sitting up from the bed, Kakashi placed a hand atop of little child's head. "There were many unfair things that hurt our Naruto in this world."

Jiraiya shot the _Copy Cat_ a wide-eyed, warning-full look. "Kakashi!"

The boy's eyes quickly found Kakashi's. "Why? What happened?"

Smiling in sympathy, Kakashi said, "Let's just say that your dimensionally older broth-…" A sudden knock forced them all to turn to the entrance as the door's opened and Tsunade stood there along with Iruka.

Staring at the aged woman, Naruto whispered unsurely, "…Grandma?"

Breathing out a sigh of relief, Tsunade stepped through the entrance and walked over to the boy. Taking him from Jiraiya before he could argue, she pulled him close to her chest. "You know me?" she whispered brokenly, hopefully.

"Yes, I know ya." he breathed, too familiar with the strength of the female. Looking then past her shoulder, the child's eyes knitted in slight confusion as he met kind brown.

Nothing was meant to be said as Iruka already understood that this boy had nothing to do with him in the other world, hence he didn't know him.

Hiding the sad expression, Iruka walking over to them and ruffled the boy's messy hair. "Hey little guy. My name's Iruka. I used to be…-" looking at Jiraiya and Kakashi for confirmation that it was ok to say such abrupt words about dimensions, he continued as they nodded, "-…your guardian."

Tilting his head, he boy asked, "My elder self's?"

Chuckling, Iruka thought as he reached for the boy's outstretched hand, _'This one appears smarter than our knucklehead.'_ "Yes."

Smiling, Naruto grasped Iruka's warm fingers between his own.

* * *

The acquaintance with the rest of lil'Naruto's supposed 'peers' was rather awkward as silence spread among them in the first greeting; …though all that went past as soon as Ino and Sakura brought in _the_ ramen.

Placing flowers into the vase, Sakura looked away from the starving child and over to her former sensei.

"How's he holding up?" she whispered.

"He's holding." smiled the _Copy Cat_. "Although it's still hard for him to accept all the happened facts, he's enduring it well."

Seeing the child too preoccupied with his ramen and lisping while talking with Jiraiya, the rest of Konoha11 looked at Kakashi from around the hospital room.

"Does he even know us?" asked Lee.

"He doesn't. Not as much as he does Jiraiya and Tsunade, anyways. For you see, in his world, Naruto never met either of you or me. So far, the two Sannin are the only ones he knows and can truly allow himself to rely on. Perhaps he's seen us once or twice walking past, but never knew as so well."

"Did he mention anyone other than his father? Someone else he could've known from this village?" wondered Kurenai.

"No, not yet…, but I'm sure he must have known Sandaime."

Hearing the name being whispered behind his back, Naruto looked to the little formed group by the window talking between themselves. "Is Hiruzen here?" he asked Jiraiya.

Looking into the child's red eyes that were currently trying to read his own, Jiraiya sighed. "I'm sorry. But he died a long time ago."

Placing his chopsticks into the half empty bowl, the little Naruto looked at his dangling feet over the bed, "Can ya tell me how he died?"

Flicking the small nose, Jiraiya answered playfully, "Actually that's what I'd like to avoid at any costs. Your little ears are too innocent to hear such troublesome things."

"Please?"

'_God, even that darn Sharingan can put up a sorrowful sight. Urgh!'_ "No."

"But Ji."

"I said 'no'!"

"Fine! But I'm not talking to ya anymore!" turning away, Naruto crossed his arms.

"Geez, you're terrible." Pouting, Jiraiya took the boy's ramen away from him to finish it himself.

Sticking his tongue out, the boy mumbled, "Yer just like my real uncle-Jiraiya. Saying dum stuff like 'innocence' and 'puberty' that I can never understand."

"I told you we're all the same here," chuckling at the boy's growing pout, Jiraiya winked at him and took a bite from the noodle.

"'Hmph!' I wish uncle-Orochimaru was here. He could've at leas-…" Naruto nearly jumped out of his skin as Jiraiya suddenly began choking.

Startled at the sudden commotion, Kakashi quickly slammed his hand against the _violet_ Sannin's back and blinked as he spit out a noodle, and fell to the floor. "Maa…do I even want to know?" Kakashi asked confused, rubbing his neck.

"You don't," gasped and wheezed Jiraiya from the floor.

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_!!  
__Sth I forgot to add:  
__To differ the two dimensions between one another – the chps with Naruto & Gaara as lil'children will be marked by the sign of __'Lil'child' under the chapter's title.  
__!!_

_In the next chp I'll go back to the second universe (where N&G are both older) & the story will go straight forward from that point.  
__It'll take some time before I'll go back to N&G as lil'children again; so the next chps will be all about the mission & other stuff…._

_**è **__In the mean time, thanx for the reviews:_ narubby23, dashllee, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Yoko. no. unmei, Whiteinu1 & Conflicted Soul!

_**è **__replies to chp #25:_

Conflicted Soul – thank ya time & time again for the wonderful review!XDD There's no place to hide the damn blush anymore.  
Anyways, the story 'Why this…' is not discontinued, I just want to get through with the present story (even though it doesn't look like it'll be too soonXP). Anyhow, I'll try to get to it when I have time & will (which is hard to get);))  
It was Naruto who said those words in the 1st scene. Don't think nothin', it was just sort a mockery;)  
Haha…yeah, Gaara does sleep…sometimes;)  
Heh! Akatsuki is just sth irreplaceable, everyone loves them 'cause they're badXDD  
Aaa…the word 'ain't'? Isn't it English/American/or sth? I don't know. I'm sort a supposed to study British-English in school, but I like American 'cause it appears simplerXD  
Čau!XDD

Whiteinu1 – thank ya for the review!XDD Heh, well that sure is an interesting wish;)) I'll try to get them in kimonos sometime latter:)

Yoko. no. unmei – HeyXDD Thank ya for the review!:)) Umm… the stories between the universes I divided with the placed words under the chp's title – 'Lil'child', which will tell that the story is about N&G as little children;))

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – Hahah! Thank ya soo very much!XDD But still, pretty eyes won't give it;))  
Minato & Itachi's relationship has a strong bond, but that doesn't mean that they are related by blood. Minato hasn't married an Uchiha, so breath;)) I'm just trying to show that only in comfort does Itachi call Minato his father, 'cause for him, he was like that all the years his real father wasn't there fer him. I guess it's weird, but for Itachi & Sasuke Minato was closer to the father figure than their actual father. & anyways, I shouldn't be telling ya that much…  
Heheh!XDD

dashllee – Thank ya very much for the review!XD

narubby23 – thank ya!XDD


	27. Chapter 27

'_**Chapter 27'**_

_

* * *

_

"_I want you to find something."_

"_What is it?"_

"_A rose."_

"…_a rose?"_

"_Aa… I want you to travel through the dark seas and find the missing rose of Tani. Please, it is important."_

Groaning, Naruto rubbed his head, hopping that could scratch away the memory of his conversation with Minato. "Great… I'm risking my life for a plant." _'What of the odds? I'm rather used to that sort a thing anyway.'_

Leaning his cheeks onto his palms, Naruto breathed in the fresh air of the deep ocean. _'Hm… It's been already half a day since we've been in the open ocean and yet…absolutely nothing had happened. I have not killed the Uchiha…, I have not tried to sink the damn ship… and worst of all – I haven't even _eaten_ yet! God, I must be going mad!'_

Loud thunder-blast jerked him from his musings and soon after – rain began to pour. Sighing in irritation, Naruto pushed away from the railing and headed for the cabin.

_

* * *

_

Stomping down the stairs, Naruto didn't even try to hide his mumbling curses as he entered the cabin filled with all members of his little group.

"Glad you could finally join us," grumbled an irritated voice from one of the five people sitting around the wooden table and eating.

The man's every-hour critical behavior reminded Naruto very much of the girls, whom always thought better of themselves than the universe as a whole.

He could very well feel the twenty-two year old giving him a dark glare; and from one point, Naruto felt glad that he couldn't see the man in face, for he had a distant feeling that his outer appearance would've made him spill something regrettable…, after all, the man had green hair and yellow eyes.

"Had a lot to……_think_ about." answered Naruto as he reluctantly joined them by the table.

"That's surprising. You actually 'think'?" mumbled Itachi; intentionally or unintentionally making Naruto bit back a furious growl.

"Oh _Hah-hah-hah_…" _'…you bastard!'_ grabbing a spoon for a small support, Naruto nearly bent it in half. "For your retarded information I do…" bringing his fist up, Naruto sneezed into it, "…_asshole_."

Halting his own spoon midway, Itachi turned his narrowed eyes at the boy sitting on his right. "What was that?"

"Bon appetite!" showing too many teeth, Naruto gave his _temporary_ 'partner' a huge grin.

"Don't proclaim I'm deaf, boy."

"Fucking damit! Stop calling me 'boy', yo-…!"

"Well well, ain't that something." forcing the two glaring 'comrades' apart, Kirabi set in between them. "Is it me or are the two of you just _perfect_ friends?"

"None of your business, muscle-bag!" scowling at him, Naruto reached over the table and grabbed a slice of bread.

Grinning, Kirabi looked at the dark-haired _leaf_-nin. "I'm surprised. One would actually expect Konoha to send someone to be able to _hide_ the fact that the runt is unyielding under your control, not the other way around."

Glaring at him from the corner of his eye, Itachi said, "Naruto-kun is a rather difficult case, indeed, that is unquestionable; however, don't try to presume that he's non-compliance towards me proves his disloyalty for the village. Weren't it there, I would have long since killed him myself."

"What strong confidence." praised Kirabi in mock salute and turned back to the chewing blond. "Your friend sure is a hard nut, isn't he?"

"My what?"

"Ah…pardon. Would 'fiend' be better?" Kirabi smirked, feeling that with such an attitude towards a comrade there can be no strong loyalty between the boy and the village whatsoever. _'But that's still not proof enough.'_

"'Hmph!' A steal nut is more like it." wisecracked the blond, "The prick simply can't bent with that _pillar_ shoved up his-AHH!" feeling someone suddenly step on his foot, Naruto jerked his glare at the calmly eating Itachi. "Uchiha!"

"What do you want?" ignorantly asked Itachi.

"I'm gonna kill you for that!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"…Right…" raising a brow at the two hissing companions, Kirabi crossed his arms as he looked around the square table at the rest of their gathered bunch. "So…don't think we made proper introductions as of yet. How 'bout we start from the beginning?"

"Why don't you shove your introductions in your-… …" Grabbing a slice of bread, Naruto stuffed his mouth with it before anything inappropriate got out.

As the boy nearly choked, Kirabi spoke, "My name is Kirabi. All of you already know where I come from so I won't dwell on it. My rank is above the elite, only second to my brother Ei in the whole Kumogakure. As for my skills… let's just say they are beyond your imaginations, so I suggest you to not get in my way during fights."

"Hn, how mature," snorted the green haired man from across the table, pushing his unfinished plate with spaghetti away. "I suppose 'ones apple doesn't fall too far from its tree. Your country, same as your people, are disgracing the Nation with your arrogance, _lightner_. I cannot believe you're actually a part of u-…" unable to finish his cordial dislike towards the world, the green haired man chocked as an abrupt cold blade suddenly went piercing into his chest.

This time Naruto did choke. _'Fucking hell!'_

The reaction was common as the rest sprang from their seats and held out their own weapons, each pointed out at Kirabi, except for Itachi who only placed a cautious hand on his weapon's handle, and choking Naruto who was too busy trying to understand something.

Holding the handle of the long blade stretching over the whole table, Kirabi ignored the raised commotion as he still regarded the stabbed man with an angry look. "I think you're recoiling from the main subject here, maggot of Kirigakure." Taking out his sword from the wide-eyed green-head, Kirabi didn't even blink as the man before them dropped to the floor and dissolved into water.

Looking to the side, the dark-skinned watched as the glaring green-head emerged from the dark corner. "Now then… Should I force it out of you?"

"Like if _you_ could do much damage to _me_." Crossing his arms, the too self-centric _water_ nin leant against the wall and looked over his fingernails. "My name's Akira. That's all that you should know."

Naruto arched a brow, turning away only then when the rest took their seats and a tan, white-haired twenty-five year old spoke from across him. "I am Satoru Yuasa. An elite shinobi from Suna. Specialize in wind and basic puppetry techniques."

Smiling as some eyes turned to him next, the shinobi from Earth country entwined his fingers together. "I'm from Iwagakure. Name's Osamu Erizawa. Am proficient in arts of earth and water techniques. But them might be only some of my specialties." smirking with hidden pride, Osamu looked at Itachi next, who spoke as nonchalantly as could be possible,

"Itachi Uchiha. An elite of Konohagakure."

Some eyes glittered at the mention of the last name while others slightly widened, not expecting an Uchiha to be among them; as while all Naruto did was mock Itachi's words under his breath, until he got smacked upside the head,

"AH! The Fuck ya doing!"

"Your name, brat!" grumbled Kirabi, the others waiting for him to finally speak up.

"Hn! I'm Deadmeat. The grand lord of Ramen! And I'm gonna kick _all_ of your asses (no reason there)!"

"Heh! The fuck's kind a name is _that_?" snorted Akira.

"Idiot, it ain't real! The brat's just stupid." Pulling has hand quickly away from the table, Kirabi scowled as the blond nearly stabbed it with a fork.

Glaring, the green-haired turned away, covering his embarrassment. "Tsk! I knew _that_, dumbass!"

"Aww, no-one is blaming you for it, Akira-san! I'm pretty _sure_ you did," Osamu sniggered, satisfied that Akira exploded.

"Shut the Hell up! No-one's talking to you!"

"Geez… the fuck's your problem? I didn't even say anything offensive! …I think?" sneered the darkly purple-eyed _rock_-nin.

"The fact that you opened your mouth is enough offense as it is!"

"Well-well-well, look how the mighty growls!"

"You-…"

Slamming his fist against the table, Kirabi roared. "Enough hassling, you two! You're giving me a headache!"

"Stop butting in, _lightner_! You and your country had done plenty of deed to it already!"

"What did you say!"

Naruto sweat-dropped as Rock, Lightning and Water nins began their little exchange starting from colorful words and ending with politics. "God! What a freaking bunch of weirdoes."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," said Itachi, dipping his spoon into his soup, "you'll fit right in with them."

Gritting his teeth, Naruto mumbled an add, "And a bastard at that to compete my ultimate torture."

"You think it's 'torture', Naruto-kun? I believe that is of understatement…" _'…who actually is the one tortured.'_ indifferently commented Itachi as he swallowed the warm liquid.

Unable to bend the spoon further than it was already, Naruto stabbed it into the table. "Oh? Dare I ask how _you_ would call it then?" he asked twitching a friendly/threatening smile in Itachi's direction.

Arching a brow, Itachi looked at the boy for a brief moment before turning back to his soup. "No you don't."

"Urgh!" standing up, Naruto jabbed a finger at him, "A carrion crow! An arrogant, egoistic, self concerned bastard of a jerk is what you are!" _'God, stupid geez, I'm losing it!'_ turning another cheek, Naruto decided it was better if he left before he did something irrelevant.

"Naruto-kun." Halting at Itachi's call, Naruto snapped a 'what'.

"Be sure you don't slip out there." he said dryly, "Otherwise it'll be too much of a waste to go looking for you if you suddenly fall overboard."

'_AArgh! I'm gonna strangle him and shave his head!'_ grabbing himself together, Naruto took a deep-deep breath and opened the door to the cabin, flinching at the loud thunder blast that first met his ears. _'There must be hell of a sight up there on board. Bha! The Hell! – Anything's better than-…'_

"You might want to take something to cover yourself up, Naruto-kun." amused mockery met Naruto's twitching ears again, "It's raining outside."

'_Grr…'_ turning his head over his shoulder, Naruto hissed, "I _know_ that, you _stupid prick_!" He snarled and turned to head out…

…Until he heard Itachi mumble something under his own breath which was undoubtedly meant for him as a retort. "I'm positive you do…, little imbecile."

The door slammed shut.

Sighing, Itachi shook his head and dipped his spoon back into the bowl…

The rest looked up from their bickering as Naruto came back and stopped behind the Uchiha.

Arching a brow, Itachi was just about to turn around…yet he didn't actually manage that…

Glaring and huffing, Naruto couldn't hold it in anymore. _'That's it!'_ Reaching out, he smacked Itachi's nape so hard that in somewhat unfortunate way, it actually ended up with Itachi landing face first right into the soup.

"BWHAHAHAHA!" Kirabi's mouth opened up to a fit of a loud roar called laughter.

The blond teen was obviously not predicting such an outcome as he just froze there. "…uops?…"

Grabbing frozen Naruto blindly by the collar, Itachi calmly pulled his face from the now empty/spilled bowl of soup and run a composed hand through his wet hair. "That does it." was all the warning for the blond before he was suddenly jerked and tossed right across the table.

The others scattered away as Naruto slid over the table taking the whole food down with him before dropping to the floor.

After a few silent seconds of only plates clattering and rolling, a guffaw arose from all sides joining in with Kirabi's immense horse laughter.

Whipping his cheek and grabbing a handful of dripping spaghetti from his head, Naruto growled and tossed it at the laughing/roaring Kirabi. "Will you Shut a Hell Up already!"

Getting smacked to the face with a mouthful of macaroni, Kirabi's fun quickly died down, "…YO-you little bastard!" grabbing the first thing his hands could find, which was a round apple rolling on the floor, Kirabi threw it back at Naruto. However, the blond quickly smacked it to the side, …thus, in process, accidently directing it into Erizawa's left eye,

"DAA! My EYE!" waving his hands around to emphasize the pain, Osamu unintentionally punched Akira who bumped into Satoru who in turn slipped onto a spread gravy and jerked the green-head along with him as he went crushing down.

"You Idiot! What did you do that for?" pushing away from the teal-eyed _sand_-nin, Akira barked in hissy-fit.

"What! Unless you haven't noti-…" unable to finish the defense, Satoru received a bowl of porridge in his face.

"Notice this!" victorious shouted Akira and quickly got tackled by the porridge covered nin; while Osamu was still souring out his foggy eye and Naruto, Kirabi, and Itachi continued to battled it out with food.

And so… the first day went by with a '_nice_' start, and quickly concluded with a shout of "Men Overboard!"…

_

* * *

_

The next day; early in the morning…

Walking up the stairs leading to the deck, Naruto scrunched up his nose as he smelled his hair he was braiding. "Geez…, it still stinks like burned ketchup."

"Quit winning, brat." Stretching his limbs, Kirabi's gruffly voice spoke from behind him, "Be glad you don't stink like rotten eggs."

"Heh…, unlike you?" sniggered the blond, dodging Kirabi's slap as they finally stepped out on the deck where the other four nins already were.

"Well-well…, glad to see you two sleeping-bags finally awake." teasingly greeted the enthusiastic violet haired _rock_-nin, all the while admiring his yellow strands glomming in the morning sun.

Naruto scowled at him, "Tch, weren't it for _someone_ snoring the whole damn night, it could've been said otherwise."

"Oh really? I didn't hear anything during the night. I slept like an angel." Spreading his hands wide, Osamu embraced the morning sunrays gleaming through the thick clouds.

"A _gorilla_ would be more like it. No wonder you slept like a ton." grumbled Naruto in the background; if only he was the one to talk.

"Who? Me?" looking surprised, the _rock_-nin blinked as the other three averted his gaze.

"No, _me_!" derisively stressed the blond.

"What? I do not snore!" Osamu objected offensively.

"What you do can't even be called proper 'snoring'!" cleaning his ear, Kirabi looked around the dark-blue illuminations of the clear ocean.

Chuckling lightly, Naruto quickly stopped that and began frowning. _'Dam it! I'm going nuts!'_ wishing he could slam his head somewhere the other's couldn't see, Naruto found it beyond awkward talking with them in such a sickeningly free and friendly atmosphere. _'The air must be poisoned.'_ Finding absurd excuses that could be at a fault, Naruto grumbled and left them all alone to go and wondered across the deck.

Steering the massive ship with straight gaze directed out front, the navigator abruptly looked to the side as he caught sight of an approaching blond. Travelling his eyes over the curious longhaired gliding his hands everywhere he could reach them, the man quivered his lips at the rarely appreciative sight. _'Very nice.'_

Walking closer to the navigation panel, Naruto stilled in his steps as he felt a tall fisherman give him an appreciative smirk and a leer that went towards his exposed skin glinting in between the lowly sliding dark blue-pants and a white t-shirt. Scowling, Naruto took the rest of the steps to shorten the distance between them and shamelessly invade the man's personal space. "If you don't avert your eyes elsewhere…, I'm gonna shove _this_ in your ass." Emphasizing the stress on 'this', Naruto showed the steersman a long kunai and stabbed it on the steering-wheel for a better view. The poor man gulped and fainted.

Doing a mental blink, Naruto kicked the man in the ribs. "Oi? What are ya? Dead?" Receiving no responses from his countless jabs and kicks, Naruto crossed his arms. "…Tch, the hell's his problem? Maybe I should just throw him overboard? That'll surely wake the fool up."

"How very thoughtful of you, Naruto-kun. Seems that your generosity is of upmost absurdity."

Scowling at the approaching Uchiha, Naruto stuck his nose up. "'Hmph!' Not my fault he dropped dead. He should be steering the ship not lying around like a sack. What's the deal anyway?"

Itachi just stared at him. _'His foolishness exceeds no bonds.'_ Sighing, Itachi stepped aside as the ship's captain walked over and looked down at one of his fainted men, before looking up at Naruto and making quick conclusions,

"Right," kicking the drooling fisherman away, he grabbed the ship's steering-wheel himself and opened a compass.

"Ok, we just passed the Marsh country and are back in the open ocean. Probably in between five or seven miles from the next closest land to reach. Hmm… So anyways…do ya kids have any specific destinations? Where're ya headin'?" the greybeard captain asked, looking at Itachi and Naruto with one eye knitted shut.

Not appreciating the fact for being called 'kid', Itachi ignored it in favor of an answer. "The Valley country."

Narrowing his brows, the greybeard closed the compass. "Valley, huh?" Placing his elbow against the steer-wheel, he leant in closer to the two as if preparing to tell a mythical-tale. "Do you kids have any idea what the Valley country holds beyond?"

Naruto wondered if he should fake a curious wide-eyed blink or roll his eyes, but neither would work in regards of his blindfold, so he stayed silent; whereas Itachi closed his eyes, leant against the railing and gave an internal sigh, trying to compose patience and be polite so as to endure the ancient fairytales that were to come.

Appreciating the fact that he gained the kids' believably 'undying' attention, the sailor looked around before smirking in mad excitement and speaking up in low whisper. "Legends tell that once people cross the borders beyond inhabited nations, such as the elemental nations, strange things begin to happen. The seas become darker, trees go dryer…and hills turn sharper. Once one has entered the dead courtiers lying beyond those of the Valley – they tend to lose themselves till madness …for there is no food to eat, no water to drink and no life to be found within the reach. Monsters lurk in their seas…, beasts hide in their shadows, and grounds arise as they suck in all the living things that touch their roots. The no-man zone has no life for no life ever comes in or out of it." Looking to the side, the man glimmered in glee as his story caught the attention of his other 'passengers'. "Yes. Listen well my children, for who else is there other than the good old'Freddy who will tell you such a mythical tale of true stories? Basing on the facts, that it is _I_ who lived to tell the tale." looking everyone dead in the eye, the man stood dead serious for a long unnerving time… until he cracked up and began laughing, unable to withhold the shocked, sweaty expression on the violate haired nin and the stilled forms of other 'topnotchers'. "Hahahah…, I'm just teasin' boys! There is no need ta get so scared! Besides, if ya're not going to go beyond the deserted borders of the Valley country, ya'll have nothing to fear." the man grinned and slapped Naruto lightly on the shoulder who nearly fell over the railing from his dumbfound numbness.

"'Ptfui!' Old dork!" cursing the man under their breaths, Erizawa and Akira scowled and walked away, their faces growing red from embarrassment at falling for the childish tale.

Chuckling to himself, Naruto elbowed his stoic companion, who apparently also got a little bit of a reaction from the tale. "Hahahah! Looks like the crazy old'Freddy here got the Mr-oh-Excellent to break a sweat!"

Trying not to hiss too loud, Itachi hissed just below his breath, "I could say the same about you, Naruto-kun."

Quickly forgetting his amusement, Naruto began glaring and complaining, "I soo did _not_!"

BOOOMM!

Jerked into reality, everyone gasped as the ship suddenly made a violent impact against an unknown forced. The sound of the loud crack was accompanied by tremor onboard as the shocked men were forced off their feet and against the barriers of gravity that the huge speed and compact enforced.

For Itachi and Naruto the abrupt encounter was just as big of an unforeseen expectation as the sudden jolt that forced them to fall overboard.

Spilling the salt-water from out of his mouth, Naruto turned back to the ship and cursed as he couldn't see the cause of their sudden situation.

"Is everyone alright?" yelled members of the crew from the ship, slowly stabilizing themselves to their feet, as if afraid that any movement would fracture the ship.

Grabbing the steering wheel, the captain pulled himself to his feet and looked over to the ship's front. "Check the damage! See if we hit a reef."

"Doesn't look like we hit anything." Leaning over the board, the second of the two fisher-men shouted out,

"The lower prow is cracked, captain! Water is flowing in."

"Shut down the hatches. Make sure they are all sealed closed." commanded the greybeard, leaving the rudder.

"Yes, captain!"

Staying too preoccupied with hearing what's going on, Naruto nearly squealed as he felt something brush against his leg. Turning quickly around, he scowled at Itachi who was also floating in the water by his side.

'_I would've been laughing my ass off right now weren't I in the damn water as well.'_

"Your stretched face doesn't help much in this situation, Naruto-kun. Stop glaring." indifferently noted Itachi, looking around the ship, trying to find the source of their inconvenience.

"Tch…whatever!" turning him his back, Naruto tried to ignore the fact that Itachi's foot or hand or whatever it was kept brushing against his leg every now and then as they sustained themselves in water. "What happened?"

"It appears we hit something."

"And except the _obvious_?" Naruto twitched as another soft touch brushed against his thigh.

"I don't know."

"Oh? And here I thought Uchihas were supposed to know _everything_."

"Do you have a problem, Naruto-kun?"

"Yes! It's an annoyingly arrogant, black feathered bird-nest floating next to my right!"

Itachi gave him a cold glare, "I would suggest you to stop provoking me, boy. I do not wish to be responsible for your sudden _death_."

Smacking away the object touching his thigh that he guessed must've been Itachi's leg, Naruto huffed, "'Hmph!' Please, if only you could do a thing or two about it."

"Your stubborn ignorance is laughable, Naruto-kun. I cannot believe you survived with it this long."

"Why y-…" Feeling the touch descend back against his leg, Naruto exploded, "AARgh! God Damn It, Uchiha! Will You Stop Touching My Leg Already!"

The blond's sudden exasperated shout nearly made Itachi shout out himself. "…What on earth are you talking about?" he frowned.

"Oh-no! We are _not_ having that again! _'Don't know anything'_ my ass! What are you? A perv-…Oh My God! You _are_ a pervert, aren't you!"

Itachi nearly spluttered, "I'm a _what_?"

"And a _closet_ one at that! GHAaa!"

One of the dark eyebrows began twitching frantically. "Who do you think you are calling 'pervert', you insolent brat!"

"Well I don't see any other one around, do yo-…?…!…" suddenly Naruto froze all together, his expression showing every emotional aspect of pure shock…  
…For there was an uncomfortably tight feeling of that gentle touch gliding higher and higher up between his legs before it brushed right against his…

"You BASTARD!"

Itachi was too shocked to say the least, for neither he nor his sub-consciousness expected to receive a 'slap' of all things.

"What a _Hell_ do you think you're doing?" turning his face slowly back, Itachi nearly roared at the red-faced blond.

"Hitting you, you coat wearing maniac! What does it look like? My God, I feel so violated!"

Gritting his teeth, Itachi was quickly losing his cool as his fists itched for a taste of a certain tan skin. "What ever the goddamn reason for?"

"For touching me in……_you know where_!"

"For _Christ's sake_! I am _not_ touching you _anywhere_!" stressing each syllable, Itachi was sure his teeth were gonna snap.

"Hah! Tough! And you expect me to bel-AAHH-…!" before anything more was said, the blond was cut off as he suddenly went under the water.

Blinking for the ninth time this morning, Itachi closed his eyes to calm down another forming twitch. "Stupid boy! Will you _stop_ fooling around _already_!" Opening his eyes, Itachi frowned as the blond still didn't come back out from the dark ocean. "Tsk. Little fool! If it is one of your foolish jokes, pray that I don't find you!"

Diving under, Itachi swam deep enough to stabilize himself in the water and looked around in search of anything yellow…, though what he saw made his mouth fly open and the water gush in it. Chocking for breath he quickly swam to the surface and gasped.

"Yo! Uchiha! What are you doing there? Bathing?" sniggering from the deck, Kirabi and the others leant over the railings as Itachi appeared from the water.

"Get everyone out of here!" Itachi's sudden warning was quickly joined with the point of 'why', as the water behind him exploded and a huge hundred meter wide tentacle shot out high in the air.

"BWAHahahah! I knew it!" abruptly laughed the greybeard, pointing at the huge tentacle. "I knew there was something I forgot to warn you about!"

The crew seemed to freeze in place before someone finally shouted to 'run' as the tentacle began to go down.

Diving quickly back under the water, Itachi evaded getting in the middle of a mass that slammed atop the ship, thus broking it into thousand of small pieces. Some of the crew members barely made it as they jumped overboard.

Averting another tentacle that went right past him and shot out into the surface, Itachi finally spotted Naruto, who appeared to have escaped the black tentacles and tried to get away, but when the presence of a sudden claw sharp hand shot out of the very depths of the dark hole, it was turned into a whole new matter.

'_Shit,'_ grabbing his katana, Itachi quickly dived down into the depth.

Naruto felt his air passage contract as he was abruptly squeezed and dragged into the ocean's darkness deeper and deeper, feeling the waters thicken just as much as the clawed hand squishing him tight; his strength lessened rapidly as the air became too much of a desperate necessity.

Suddenly he felt, someone take a tight hold on his shoulder and a moment later he heard a deep roar of pain as Itachi pierced his katana into the creatures hand before jolting a blast of fire through it and into the arm, thus loosening its grip on Naruto and freeing him.

Grabbing the teen's wrist, Itachi jerked him fully out of the claws' grip, though that was just as much a foolish decision as the stab, as huge tentacle quickly shot forward and entwined around Itachi's whole form.

Reacting on impulse, Naruto grabbed Itachi's hands and braced his feet against the entwined organ, trying to pull him out of it.

The stab of Itachi's katana wouldn't work twice, so getting the message quick, Naruto let Itachi's right-hand go and outstretched his left arm, summoning his demonic chakra he shot a weak link of the _'demon-line'_ towards to depths of eight outstretched tentacles.

The muffled roar filled the underwater as the darkness was enlightened with a light of subaqueous explosion; the tentacles loosened on the blast and retreated away, giving Itachi and Naruto enough time to pull out and get back atop the water.

Gasping as he finally reached the surface, Naruto coughed and wheezed; letting the Uchiha help him stand atop the water and stabilize him as he tried to breathe in the air of life.

"This doesn't change a thing…" breathing deeply, Naruto rasped out, referring to his near death experience and Itachi's unexpected/unwanted help.

Itachi arched a brow, finding it unusual humorous for someone to think about whom-whose life was saved at such a time. "Don't dwell on it." he said, holding the wobbling blond to his feet. "As far as I'm concerned it was even."

"Tch."

"Oi! What a hell did you two awake?" a quick accusing voice was shot their way as an irritated Akira approached them along with Kirabi.

"An octopus, what else?" growled Naruto, finding no place for sarcastic retort due to his furious coughs.

Looking over at the place filled with floating chippings from the once-was ship, Itachi turned behind them. "Where are the others?"

"With Satoru and Osamu. Their freezing the water's surface close about two miles from here, so the fish-men can get back to the lands and into the safety. It'll take awhile for them to get back, however. So basically, we're on our own."

A sudden rising of water beneath their feet forced them to split as three gigantic tentacles pulled out and went crushing down – creating huge waves and disorder in the ocean.

"Tch…octopuses don't have such tentacles, brat." critically commented Kirabi, finding _perfect_ timing in doing that.

Jumping over a few waves, Naruto coughed and barked, "What makes _you_ the expert?"

"Heh…a great deal is what makes me that. I know a lot about those things actually. Just who do you suppose was the one in capturing the Eight-Tails in the first place?"

Naruto turned to the dark-skinned in slight astonishment, "You?"

"Aa…. Who else?" prideful, Kirabi laughed, unsheathing one of his long swords. "I know just _how_ to deal with these things and bring them down to their very knees."

"Pft! I'd like to see that." snorted Akira from behind.

"Just you wait," hissed Kirabi and suddenly dived into the water.

The other three stilled as there was a few minutes of silence before a sudden deep roar echoed from within the water's depths.

Watching the tentacles quickly retreat back into the water, Akira blinked as soon after Kirabi jumped out and landed in front of them, grinning like mad.

"And that's how it's done, _ladies_."

Placing his hands on his hips, the green-haired glared, "So? What did you do? Poke the slimy octopus in the eye and scold it into a corner?"

Rolling his eyes in mental thought at another arrogant prick in the group, Naruto hissed as his lungs screamed and he began coughing again, grabbing his throat he tried to soothe his damaged glands.

"Unfortunately for you Akira, but it ain't an octopus." said Kirabi, flicking his slime covered blade to the side before pulling it back in place on his back. "It's way too big even for a prestigious one."

"Well ok Mr. Know-it-all. Do tell! What is it then?"

Smirking, Kirabi opened his mouth,

…But Itachi beat him in stating it. "It's the Kraken," he said, staying indifferent towards Kirabi's heated glares for stealing away his minutes of fame.

"Kraken?" raising a brow, Akira looked at Kirabi as he spoke,

"Yeah. An enormous, powerful creature, believed to be living in the deepest depths of the ocean outside the elemental nations; heh…guess that rumor can be now proven true. Though in any case, even though its strength does not submit charka and it isn't that much of a brain either, its mass works out the effort; for it _is_ far bigger than any of the famous nine demons."

'_It's like an intruding myth. I thought that only tailed beasts were those of importance… Especially for the Akatsuki.'_ mussing under his breath, Naruto and the others went stiff silent as a loud tremor abruptly ran through the widely-opened area of the ocean (not to mention that maintained the very subject of their current situation right beneath standing feet)… _'This is too unnerving.'_

"I thought you said you took care of it?" hissed Akira, glaring at the silent black-skinned.

"Well…must've miscalculated a few things then."

A blast of water shooting up behind them froze the four fighters as the massive creature finally revealed itself in its nine-hundred meter tall glory. Casting down a cool shadow that seemed to starch beyond miles and miles forward, it outstretched its huge clawed hands and thick neck – tearing out a huge thundering growl throughout its wide mouth filled with a hundred sharp, foliated fangs.

Trembling under the cold feeling of the monstrosity breathing behind their very backs, Naruto asked, "So…who's gonna be the first to turn around?"

"…"

"…"

"I'll go second." volunteered Akira.

Another tremendous roar gave their instincts to react as a sudden tentacle shot out and slammed atop the spot they previously stood, disturbing the water and arising huge waves that slammed on the five shinobi.

Coming to the surface, Kirabi quickly ducked under another tentacle that caught Akira off guard and punched him away. "Yea, that could be a…problem."

Kirabi blinked as someone suddenly jumped onto his shoulders.

"What's the matter," amused, asked the hoarse voice of the blond brat, "I thought you knew just how to deal with the likes of this?"

Glaring at the blind kid standing on him as if on some sort a leader, Kirabi crossed his arms, "Octopus is a one thing, Eight-Tails is another, but Kraken – is something completely different. Catch my drift?"

"No," bending his knees, Naruto suddenly grabbed one of Kirabi's swords and pushed right off his shoulders into the air.

"Hey, wait! Brat, give that-…" stilling at the sight of one of the tentacles thundering down on him, Kirabi quickly broke his chakra-balance and went under the water right before the mass slammed atop him.

Pushing through the air, Naruto gripped the blade tight and nailed it into the beast's skin (probably above its stomach). The creature gave no sign of even feeling it.

"Damn it, is it made of iron?" Grabbing a hold of the slippery skin, Naruto tried to climb it with the help of his chakra, but it was too slippery to hold on…further than that, he couldn't go much farther as he was suddenly smacked to the side as some infuriating bug.

Crushing against the water, he was just about to come to when the creature's hand suddenly shot after him and grabbed him into a tight clench.

Gasping as he was pulled out of the water and into the high air towards the beast of three paired eyes, he didn't think much and threw Kirabi's sword into one of its coal colored eyes.

Letting out a howl of pain, Kraken still didn't loosen its hold from around Naruto, …instead it showed its displeasure with a loud yell and clenched around the blond tighter.

"…shit…" hearing his ribs crack, Naruto outstretched his hand and flinched as he struggled to keep still and summon as much of the chakra as he could. Small balls soon formed around his arm and slowly they began merging into one. His and the demon's powers were still in a slight disorder, for his body was still in the middle of the healing process; everything came to him harder than it should have been.

Staring up at the unavoidable, Itachi felt exasperatingly helpless at the given situation, for whatever he or anyone else threw at the monster, be it weapons or jutsus, it all came out with no effects. The creature was just as invincible and untouchable as it was huge.

Not to mention that the monstrosity appeared genuinely intrigued by the blond brat, and didn't pay more than just an irritated attention towards the others; easily brushing them away with its tremendous tentacles.

Surfacing back from the water, Akira glared at the huge giant before them. From one point it was intriguing to witness a strange mixture of prehistoric-like creature with thick shell-covered hard skin, six narrowed eyes, four of which were smaller than the other two, sharp fang-shaped teeth, a pair of long clawed hands, and eight tentacles for legs. "What now?"

"I think that's my question." said Kirabi, "Aren't you the one from the Water nation? You should be expert in this field. Sea-monsters included."

"Ha! Who was the one to rant about being expert in sea creatures just a second ago?"

"That was before I realized what it actually was."

**BOOOOOOM!**

All of them quickly looked up as white/yellow light enveloped Kraken's mouth in a huge explosion; though it still wasn't enough to break the skull. Blood and smoke gushed out of its mouth as it let out an animalistic screamed of fury and pain.

"Did he just throw a bomb in its mouth?" wondered Akira.

The others didn't say anything as they stared at dropping gushes of falling blood and some parts of ripped organs.

Looking further up, the three nins stepped to the side as Naruto suddenly slammed against the water's surface in between them with a painful grunt.

Ignoring the pain, Naruto quickly sprang to his shaking feet and before Akira could rasp out one of his damn quips, he suddenly turned tail and ran, which was the exact same thing he said to the confused shinobi staring after him, "Run!"

Frowning, Itachi looked back at the creature and blinked as his eyes met enraged coal that slowly blend into empty shell of black bloodlust; air seemed to thicken as Kraken suddenly let loose a loud cry of anger. That made the young Uchiha think over the blond's words, and not soon after, he found himself doing the thing he hated the most – running away; despite his irritation in the matter he knew very well that such a battle just couldn't be won.

Seeing even Uchiha run, Kirabi and Akira guessed it's unavoidable and gave chase.

Watching its prey cut and run, the giant growled and dived under the water.

_

* * *

_

Opening deep red eyes, Kyuubi looked towards the West of his side. Staring at the direction one would think for the longest of times, the demon's dark lids suddenly narrowed and eyes flashed as low hiss slipped pass his teeth. "Kraken."

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_About the new 3members:  
__I ain't too pleased with the intruding new characters, 'cause I prefer to stick with the origins of 'Naruto anime' better; but unfortunately, they were necessary… Sorry._

_**è**_ _Huge thanx to the reviewers:_ Whiteinu1, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Conflicted Soul, narubby23, FastlyFadingIntoDarkness, saya420, Yoko. no. unmei & That's Nice!

_**è**_ _replies:_

That's Nice – it's sth in the middle, there are a few things Zetsu knows & perhaps a lot more that he doesn't…XD

Yoko. no. unmei – lil'Gaara needs some time to get to know the place, that's why I'm sending him away, but he'll come back so no hard feelings for GaaraXD

Saya420 – XD

FastlyFadingIntoDarkness – Naruto is still thinking over the fact 'bout his eyes, & will tell his 'judgment' later; right now he still needs to get his full strength back anywaysXD

Narubby23 – XDD

Conflicted Soul – Sasuke & Naruto is still undecided, but they are sth of a 'friend' quality right now… ehh…I don't think I can tell right now, they still haven't met properly.  
Honest… - I don't know what Zetsu is actually sniffing in realityXDD  
As for the finishing-point of dimensions & decisions…you'll have to wait, it won't come so quicklyXD  
Ok, have nice 'n' relaxing trip to Denmark;))

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX – XDD

Whiteinu1 – well…, just bare with me;))


	28. Chapter 28

'_**Chapter 28'**_

_

* * *

_

_A/N – the chp holds fights among beasts_

* * *

Moving his ears to the side, Kyuubi's frown deepened as the feel of his chakra flickering from within Naruto's body brought an annoying sting within him. _'He's weakening.'_

"You seem worried."

Turning his head to the sudden voice, Kyuubi gazed downwards.

"What do you want, vessel?" was the unwelcomed recognition from the demon.

"Not to talk, if it _despises_ you so much." teased the old-man Gennou. "There was just this sudden curiosity I had, you see. I always been wondered how many teeth a fox has, and guessing the way you would hiss just by _looking_ at me, I'd have the answer in no time."

Closing his eyes, Kyuubi stood up. "If that is all you can say to me, then leave! I'm busy."

Watching the demon suddenly rise to his tall glory, not to mention – ignore his deliberate mockery, Gennou pretty much guessed that his intensions and mind were elsewhere; particularly on a certain brat. "I never realized you would doubt that boy's strength this much, Nine-Tails. Do you honestly have no beliefs in him?"

Kyuubi's eyes travelled back towards the old-man. "Don't state things you have no idea about, vessel. It's not about beliefs in his strength or his ability to 'handle it'. Sometimes there are situations that just _can't_ be won by power and strong will alone."

This made Gennou slightly worried, "You think Naruto won't be able to defeat it?"

"That kid is still healing and has yet to get a grip on his powers, let alone my own. He wasn't even ready to leave yet. …But thanks to you and your tamed kind, now that boy is sent into his own demise. In his current state he won't be able to achieve anything aside the embarrassment of himself. Dare I even ask what were you thinking?"

Frowning in accusation, Gennou bit his lip. "We are well aware of all this, fox. However, you cannot say that it wasn't for the better. …Without his full powers he could be easier to-…"

"Handle? Control?" suggesting a word, Kyuubi's eyes flashed in menace.

Lidding his eyes, Gennou's shoulders slumped some. "It wasn't what we wanted either. We tried to decline his leaving…and yet-…"

"And yet – you still _didn't_."

"You don't understand." snapped the builder, "It wasn't our choice to make. It was the wish of his…his brother."

Staring at the man for a long time, Kyuubi then sneered to none in particular, "So that is what people call the love of a brother…." _'A foolish move, Gaara. You just made a very unpremeditated mistake. If Naruto finds out it was you who sent him away, he might never forgive you.'_

Gennou blinked as the fox suddenly stepped over his comparatively tiny form and quickly called after him, "Hold on! Where do you think you're going looking like that? Do you want people drop in panic seeing you?"

"As if I care," hissed Kyuubi, not bothering to turn around.

"Wait! You can't leave. The barrier-…"

"Is for the weak." finishing Gennou's sentence in his own fitting words, Kyuubi looked over his shoulder at the builder and a few Anbu who quickly jumped out of their hiding spots and stood by the old-vessel's side, weapons in hands and stances taken. The action made Kyuubi smirk. "Do you honest to your so-called _God_ think that such insignificants as yourselves can keep me in place? Your arrogance has no boundaries." Letting his chakra fall loose, Kyuubi grinned in deep satisfaction as shinobi fell victim under its foul energy and one by one they dropped to their knees. Before long, Kyuubi turned away and disappeared.

* * *

Entering the huge mansion that more or less resembled a king's castle, Gaara looked around the sandy walls and wide staircase at the very center of the foyer.

Placing his keys on the small table near the entrance, Minato ran a hand through his hair with a tired sigh and gestured the teen to follow him up the stairs.

After thirty or so steps up, they entered a wide hall, which seemed to just overflow with voices throughout the many rooms it held.

Looking to the side at one of the spacious rooms they passed, Gaara's eye kitted in unresolved understanding as he spotted half of the infamous 'Akatsuki' members sitting around and laughing their asses off for _whatever_ the reason.

Glancing up at Minato's back, Gaara wondered if that man was sane enough to keep a bunch of S-rank criminals within his walls. _'Doubtful.'_ But then again it was a whole new world he was in.

Moving one, Gaara sighed as 'Akatsuki's' voices slowly faded away from hearing's reach and was about to ask Minato a question when another guffaw began taking its place over to the next room.

That one however made Gaara do a double-take, for there were probably all of Orochimaru's students jumping around the spacious room and fighting with…_ '…pillows. Tsk, freaks.'_ Only one young Uchiha didn't participate as he was sitting on a windowsill, looking bored as hell.

Catching another pillow before it flew out of the window; Sasuke tossed it back into the room and opened his eyes, feeling Minato's presence nearby. Looking to the entrance, he blinked as his eyes caught unexpected cold deep-green instead.

The red-headed teen he knew from the battle was staring at him with something between menace and rage. Glad to return the same gesture, Sasuke watched as the teen merely arched an 'invisible' eyebrow at him before closing his eyes and continuing to the direction of his uncle's/father's study. _'What is he doing here?'_ jumping off the windowsill, Sasuke pocketed his hands and stepped into the entrance. He watched from the doorway as Minato opened the doors at the very end of the hallway and nodded for that Gaara-creature to enter.

Glancing back at the hall, Minato arched a brow as he saw Sasuke leaning against his room's door and staring at him with one of his proud Uchiha-glares. Not seconds after, Suigetsu and Sakon appeared behind the black-haired and peeked around the corner, also curious at what Sasuke was so intensively staring at.

Reading Sasuke's intensions before he even thought of them himself, Minato warned, "Don't even think about it, Sasuke. I'm placing a jutsu on the walls. Come within a foot of this room to eavesdrop and it'll tear your ears out."

Huffing, Sasuke crossed his arms and went back in his room, knowing well enough that Minato never joked with his promises.

"Heh! Well-well-well, is it just me or did Minato-sama finally bring home a girl to play with, huh?" wiggling his eyebrows, Suigetsu and the other Orochimaru's students laughed as some of them made provocative whistles and cat-calls.

Just when Minato was about to 'kill' some brats, a sand stormed past him and not second after there was a yell as Suigetsu went crushing back in Sasuke's room with a painfully sore-eye for his troubles.

"My apologies Namikaze-sama," emotionlessly said Gaara from behind him, watching the sand slowly fade from his fingers. "It accidentally slipped past my fingers."

Shaking his head, Minato politely excused himself and went back into the hall, entering Sasuke's room.

Gaara watched as the door closed behind him and everything went silent for a few seconds before a chaos seemed to erupt from within it followed by Suigetsu's and many other's loud shouts and yells of pain.

As soon as the house stopped shaking, Minato walked out as composed as ever and called after himself, "Sorry for tearing your room apart Sasuke, I'll make sure it's fixed by tonight."

Opening his study once more, Minato ushered Gaara in and closed the doors behind them with a small seal in between its gap.

Sitting in the offered soft-chair in front of a sofa, Gaara absorbed everything around him. Compared to the other rooms, this one was darker and held the feeling of wise agedness. There were no windows in it; however, built-in shelves with lots of old scrolls and books were the ones to decorate half of the study, while the other half went to furniture and a huge fireplace on his right.

"Do you want something to drink? Juice, water perhaps?" asked Minato, digging around the shelves.

"No," crossing his arms, Gaara leant into the chair, remembering to add a 'thank you' under his breath.

Coming to stand behind the sofa, Minato leant his elbows against its back with a bottle of drink in hand and looked at the red-head from across. "Well… what is it you wanted to talk about?"

Staring at the bottle in the man's hands, Gaara hopped it wasn't an addiction; otherwise he would've just crushed it by now. "I think it's obvious." he answered the question.

"And yet?"

Sighing, Gaara leant forward and propped his elbows against his knees, "I want to help you in getting Naruto's trust."

Smiling sadly, Minato took a sip from the bottle and knitted his eyes shut at the strong taste. "Is sending Naruto away in such a state also a part of your help?"

Gaara didn't like the way that sentence went, it sound accusing; but he didn't blame the held responsibility for telling them to send Naruto on a mission while he's in relatively 'incomplete' and powerless shape. "If you want to put it that way then maybe yes. I don't think there is any need to remind you that it's for your men's own precaution. As long as Naruto's chakra is regaining, he won't be able to bring harm to the others. As well as…" cutting himself off, Gaara looked away and changed the subject, much to Minato's confusion. "Don't take it personally, but you don't know Naruto as well as I do. He is strong and can stand on his own, whether with or without chakra. So you have no need to worry over such trivial nonsense as him getting hurt or even killed. If it were up to me, I'd say that you simply can't kill him."

Gulping down another sip, Minato rounded the sofa and took a seat; trying to ignore the fact that Gaara's strong ties with Naruto were turning him into one greatly envious parent. "Perhaps you're right." He nodded, placing his half-drank bottle on the low table in between them. "However, how do you plan on helping me gain his trust if he obviously believes it was actually _me_ that sent him on this suicidal mission in such a powerless condition in the first place?"

"To be honest, I didn't even consider this event of importance yet." Gaara's nonchalant manner made Minato slightly wrathy. "I just wanted to make sure Naruto will go through this mission without any responsibility for killing someone, which I'm quite sure he would've commenced on your shinobi were he in full strength, and try not to…"

Frowning as the red-head cut himself off again, Minato pressed on, "Try not to _what_?"

Closing his eyes, Gaara sighed. "Run away."

Minato's brows disappeared under his bangs. "He would actually do that?"

"Aa."

"But you said that there is that contract which bonds you to the village…"

"…If it is _attacked_." Gaara quickly corrected. "Naruto won't hesitate if a chance of freedom ever arises, he will take it without a thought, no matter what consequences it might hold." _'Even if it means leaving me behind.'_ Running fingers through his hair, Gaara continued, "I'm certain the Uchiha is able to hold him down at some point if it ever comes to this point; however, he wouldn't have been able to do a thing had Naruto all his powers back. So yes, I guess you _can_ think of that as a part of my help after all."

* * *

Jumping up – doing down, dodging from left to the right, the six shinobi ran as fast and far as they could to escape the giant monster's claws chasing.

Ducking under another swaying tentacle, Naruto, Itachi, Kirabi and Akira pushed up their speed as the mass dived under.

The other two watchers, Erizawa and Yuasa, joined them in their run as soon as the four nins ran passed and nearly got swallowed whole as the beast jumped out.

Evading the two tentacles trying to circle him in a grip, Naruto pressed his speed.

A few growls and howls were left behind as the other nins slashed through the tentacles that got in the way.

Catching with the blond, Yuasa gasped and wheezed, "We all know it was declared as a forbidden rule, but don't you think it's good a time as any to call out your summon, Naruto-kun?"

Hissing, Naruto ignored his complaining feet as he kept pushing them on. "I ain't too sure how to summon something that has already been summoned. Kyuubi is in the village. And besides, I don't think I have a full grab of my second source to call out for him."

Jumping over another emerging tentacle, Akira snarled behind them. "This is worse than that time in the Tea country! I can't believe I'm stuck here with such a lowlife as yourself. The Hell are you good for if you can't do a damn thing?"

"I guess ripping your arms out will show you what I'm good for!" Unable to hold the wise-ass's comments anymore, Naruto suddenly turned around and slammed his fist right into startled Akira's face, sending him into the water.

"Shit man! What a Hell?" Stopping in his run, Osamu quickly pulled dizzy Akira out of the water before he drowned.

Baring his teeth, Naruto clenched his fists as he began advancing, "Step away from him, Erizawa, or I'm gonna kill you along with him!"

Osamu went pale, "Now hold on. What's gotten into you?"

"I think that a _lowlife_ such as myself doesn't need to speak his mind! Now Let him go!"

Coming to a stop, Itachi frowned as he looked back at the two pale ninjas and one furious looking blond. _'What a hell are they doing?'_

"What? I can't do that! He will drown if I let him go-…"

"And I won't care! Drop him I said!" Naruto's hands began glowing red with chakra as he made a grab for panicking Osamu.

Not giving him that chance, Itachi quickly jerked Naruto backwards by his elbows. "We don't have time for this!"

"'The Hell's wrong with you, you idiots? Couldn't you find a better place to kill each other?" calling from afar, Kirabi froze as the water suddenly went too silent for ones liking. "Fuck, where did the fish go!"

"It's too big to be a fish." silently murmured Erizawa.

"Who cares!"

Going silent the others began looking warily around.

Opening his spinning eyes, Akira slurred, "Where am I?"

Feeling Itachi's arms loosen their hold, Naruto suddenly jerked forward and forced his foot up, slamming it back into Akira's face.

"AAAHH! What a Fuck you doing?" falling back in the water, one could even say that that finally woke the green-head up.

"Helping you regain consciousness, bastard!" hissed Naruto, cursing as Itachi locked his hold on him again.

"You…Little…" grabbing a hold on the water, Akira was just about to climb out and charge the brat when suddenly he felt something entwine around his leg and pull down.

"AAAAH! Fuck! It's-…"

Osamu squealed as the _water_-nin was suddenly pulled under the water and not a moment later he was pulled down as well, followed by Kirabi and Yuasa.

Turning his head over his shoulder, Naruto made a disappointed scowl, "Why didn't it grab you instead?"

Glaring at him, Itachi said, "Because apparently it wants you more."

And it did. A tentacle suddenly shot out and quickly entwined around Naruto's legs, pulling him down; and since Naruto's hand shot out to grab something that could be of help, Itachi went down as well.

Grabbing the blond's wrist to help him out, Itachi glanced to the side and saw the other nins getting released as they appeared of no interest to the beast now that it had Naruto and charged at Itachi.

Dodging the first two tentacles, Itachi cursed as his hold slipped from the boy and a second later he got the wind kicked out of him as he was suddenly punched by the third tentacle that basically threw him out of the water. Groaning at the harsh compact which his back made against the water's surface, Itachi hissed and circled his arm around the hurting abdomen, which he then realized was covering not only a dark bruise but also a deep cut. _'Fuck. It's impossible to defeat something like that.'_

Appearing back in the surface, Kirabi gasped for air and flinched as he struggled to crawl atop the water; his muscles were hurting from all the twists and turns that went underwater and the burning lungs didn't help much either.

Yuasa and Osamu surfaced a few minutes after him; struggling to get their balance, they pulled the grumbling and beaten Akira out.

Breathing hard, Itachi pushed himself to his feet and looked down at the calming water. _'Shit… …Naruto.'_

Getting pulled deeply down under, Naruto prompted his hands against the slippery tentacle and began struggling from side to side, hoping to get it loose one way or another, but all it did was help loosen his blindfold that slipped off his eyes and sank down.

Pulling the object of its interest closer to eyelevel, Kraken hissed and tightened its hold around him.

The faint sound of bones cracking forced Naruto to gasp and shoot his eyes open. The beast's sudden flinch was not as much of a shock to him as the fact that he could actually…_see_ the damn beast himself.

Naruto's mouth flew open. Improbability was the mind's possibility. _'…my…Damn, …I can _see_!'_

Grumbling low in its throat, the Kraken tilted its head and stared at an unusual sight of the boy's dreadful eyes that showed an impropriate glow of emotions out on the open.

The monster's five orbs of dark coal had never seemed to look nearly as magical and unique as they did in Naruto's eyes right now; for being the very first thing in line to meet his sight after such a long-long time was blinding his state into grand excitement and elation.

'_So beautiful.'_

Trance seemed to fall over Naruto's being. Unable to witness anything beyond his astonishment, he didn't care that gushes of salt water were burning his lungs or even about the fact that he was in the very core of the Kraken's lair. All he cared about was that he could finally _see_.

As the monster bared its enormous teeth, Naruto didn't know whether to laugh or cry from joy as he could practically measure every height and line of them all. An overwhelming feeling washed over him, he suddenly felt 'complete'.

Growling at the small diamond in its grip, the Kraken opened its mouth wide and guided the blond closer.

Lidding his eyes shut, Naruto smiled as his mind sunk in deep bliss, too happy – too overjoyed to think of anything aside his suddenly regained sight.

* * *

"Would you mind if I asked you an overall personal question?" Dropping the main subject, Gaara abruptly asked.

Smiling, Minato shook his head, "I don't see a reason for hesitation."

"The Uchiha brothers," as usually, Gaara went straight to point, "What history do you share with them?"

"Pardon?"

"What are they to you? Would it be suitable for you to call them sons?"

The question sounded strange. Looking the red-head in the eyes, Minato wondered what called for the sudden curiosity. "Sons, huh?" Taking his time in thinking over the question, Minato leaned into the sofa and looked up at the ceiling.

A minute or two went before Gaara received his answer. "…No, it wouldn't be." Gaara looked up at him. "Of course there are times they like to call me their 'father' rather than 'uncle' (probably because of all those years I've been there watching over them before and after Fugaku's death), even though it's usually in very secluded situations. …But a fact still remains a fact – they can't be my sons, for they are my responsibility, nephews if you will, and in no way or form can I ever replace the seat of their true father with my own; it's just the way it is."

Nodding, Gaara's eyes lowered at the white bottle on the table, he wanted to drink.

"Why?"

"Hm?" looking back up, Gaara met Minato's narrow, questioning eyes.

"Why do you need to know this?"

Gazing the man in the eye, Gaara replied, his voice void of emotions as always, "The Uchihas…they were of some…_problem_ in our world. And I just needed to know their current connection with you…" _'Depending if it's within Naruto's acceptance.'_ bringing his elbow up, Gaara rested it against the back of the chair and turned his interest elsewhere, "…That's all."

Frowning, Minato ignored Gaara's obvious reluctance on the matter through his actions and pressed on anyways, "Mind telling me the story?"

* * *

Suddenly a loud cry of pain filled Naruto's ears, shaking him awake to the horror of sight as his eyes shot open and watched the very creature of his affection, the one to open up his eyes before him, get smashed into the reef with a crushing snap.

'_No!'_ looking to the side, his eyes widened as deep blood red ones turned to him. _'Kyuubi?'_

Knowing that the Kraken would soon regain from the impact, Kyuubi cut the tentacle holding the boy and opened his mouth to grab him; pushing from the ground he quickly went to the surface.

Feeling the water abruptly rise beneath their feet, the exhausted five shinobi weren't given the chance to jump away as the huge form suddenly raised them high in the air. Mouths flew open as soon as they realized that what they stood on was not the Kraken but the very live looking Nine-Tailed demon.

"Holy cow!" Kirabi spluttered.

Stepping on top of the water, Kyuubi ignored that gapping nins on his back and brought one of his tails in front of him; opening his mouth, he gently took out the barely conscious kid and looked him up and down.

Blinking his eyes opened, Naruto slowly turned them to look to the left and then to the right; frowning at the sight of deep darkness, Naruto closed them and reopened them again, which was of no use as all he saw was darkness still. Confused, Naruto began taking attention into every detail, simply hoping to find at least one that could guide him to vision; alas, nothing changed – it was still dark. "I can't see…" Frustration began to crawl in his gut as every nerve of his body began to shake, unable to understand where else to look for all he ever saw was nothing and everything at the same time. "…can't see. I can't see! No way! Fuck, why can't I see!"

"Calm down."

"Ky-Kyuubi! What…happened? I could! Damn it, I could _see_! But I _can't_ anymore! _Why_ can't I see? Fuck, tell me why can't I _see_!"

Watching the child struggle with himself, trying to prove that his sudden hopes weren't ripped from him faster than his crushed dreams, Kyuubi ignored the sentiment. "Naruto…"

"No, shut up! Where is Kraken? Take me back to it! It can make me see! It can fix me! Where is it? What did you do to it?"

The called name was enough to make Kyuubi mad. "Enough!" snapping the blond out of his frantic, the demon growled, "_Kraken_ didn't make you see a bloody thing! It was the _ocean_ that made you see."

"Wh-what?" choking out a strangled sob, Naruto gripped the fox's fur.

"You can't see Naruto – that is reality. However, you _can_ see in the darkness; which includes the depths of the ocean and sea."

Chocking on another cry, Naruto shouted out. "What?"

"Perhaps you never knew this because you never actually _tried_ to look," explained the demon, "…you already expected it to be dark, thus finding it useless to even confirm it."

"Then why? Why didn't you _tell me_!"

The accusing yells made Kyuubi snap faster than necessary, "Because I don't want you to become reconciled with it!"

Flinching, Naruto shrunk back as Kyuubi continued on, "I want you to take that risk of healing your eyes completely! Not living in the darkness like a _blind bat_!"

Biting back a growl, Naruto closed his eyes and turned his head away, refusing to say anything that would make his chest only hurt more.

"Think over your actions before you do them, midget! It might save your live someday." Placing the silenced blond on his head, Kyuubi's ears twitched at the sudden explosion from the water and his eyes turned to regard the furious Kraken.

Compared to it, Kyuubi was about a hundred meters shorter if not more.

'_Hm! That doesn't change a thing.'_ Crunching low on his feet, Kyuubi sharpened all of his senses and focus on his close 'relative', so to speak.

Hearing everything that's been spoken of, Itach looked up at the silent blond. He knew how hard it was for the mind to be tricked into believing something it waited for a very long time only to have it ripped away the next second. And the boy's loss was of something more than just importance.

Walking up to him, Itachi's eyes lightly lidded and he hesitantly reached out, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder.

Naruto flinched at the sudden touch and turned around, looking up at the warm radiation from the heated body behind him.

Averting his eyes to the blond's whiskers, Itachi said, "Don't let it oppress you. Some things just need time to mend."

Feeling the slightest twitch of a smile begin to form, Naruto whipped it away quicker than it appeared and smirked instead, "Hm, such deep _sentiment_…for an Uchiha."

It didn't take long for Itachi to begin sneering back, "Don't get accustomed to it. Because I'm not going to tell you something like that again."

"Oh don't be too hard on yourself, we all make mistakes." sniggered the blond.

"Like you're the one to talk, little shrimp."

"What you call m-…!"

"Shut the Hell up! You're distracting me!" hissed Kyuubi, reminding them of their present situation, which was broken by Kraken's abrupt loud growl as it suddenly dived under.

Kraken tore its way fast through the water until it reached the demon; slashing out it sent its enormous hand right after Kyuubi's throat, but the demon's snap stop it…

…Catching the rock-hard arm between his teeth, Kyuubi ignored the pained yell and pushed his paw against the outstretched joint, forcing the Kraken forward…

…As it neared, the fox leashed out and punched its face with sharp claws. Baring the monster's neck to the side, Kyuubi bit on the outstretched skin and pushed his whole weight down on the Kraken's body.

As Kraken was forced off balance, it quickly entwined its tentacles around the demon and took him down with it under the water.

Holding onto Kyuubi's fur as well as his breath, Naruto opened his eyes and blinked as he saw the Kraken meet his eyes and reach out for him.

Letting the bleeding throat go, Kyuubi snarled and viciously snapped his teeth into that outstretching hand's flesh, not giving as much as a chance to grab the blond.

Kraken let out a howl of anguish as Kyuubi abruptly propped his foot against its shoulder and started ripping the hand out of its place with no mercy. Thick blood filled the depths as the bones cracked and the flesh detached. The blood's thick venom spread and began strangling the six shinobi.

Trashing and slashing through the screaming monster's tenacious hold, Kyuubi's claws finally ripped Kraken's tentacles off of him and he went back to the surface.

Jumping onto the water, Kyuubi quickly ran to the side as four tentacles shot out after him. Dodging every sharp or solid organ, Kyuubi cursed as one of them snuck behind and caught him by his back-leg.

Trying to draw the fox under the water, Kraken roared as Kyuubi didn't give in and only struggled against its hold. Annoyed, it entwined Kyuubi's front paws together and pulled them under the fox's own body, forcing the demon to hit his jaw against the water's surface in sore pain.

"Underling," hissing, Kyuubi managed to free one of his front paws and without a thought he plugged his claws into the tentacle, freeing the second leg from that slippery organ.

As the Kraken voiced out a deep grumbled, Kyuubi reached out and grabbed the tentacle holding his back ankle between sharp teeth. The tentacle loosened its hold but Kyuubi didn't let it get out of his clenches as easily, instead he began pulling it against himself, jerking and forcing Kraken out of the water.

As soon as the beast appeared, Kyuubi snapped the held flesh between his teeth in two and charged the growling Kraken straight forward. Jumping atop him, Kyuubi's claws forced themselves deeply into the sea-monster's three eyes.

Roaring in agony, Kraken punched Kyuubi off of it with its only hand.

Bracing his feet against the water, Kyuubi slid to stop and didn't halt there as he went straight back against the beast, shoving it with his whole strength and pushing Kraken from its own feet.

Slammed against the water and sinking down under, Kraken's safe two eyes narrowed open and it slashed one of its two sharp tentacles after the blurry form of the demon on the water's surface.

Kyuubi let out a sharp snarl as something suddenly pierced into his left side. _'Fuck…'_

The tentacle went throughout Kyuubi's flesh and encircled around his middle before jerking him down.

Kraken growled in disturbance as Kyuubi's legs suddenly drew apart and he braced the struggle of holding himself atop the water with his chakra, despite the pain and Kraken's full strength that was placed in trying to pull him down.

'_Shit…whenever did it get so strong?'_ clenching his claws against the water, Kyuubi grit his teeth as he struggled to keep himself from being drawn under. "Cut it off of me!" he hissed to the ninjas on his back.

Grabbing their blades, Itachi and Kirabi quickly jumped forward and sliced the organ in two without scratching the demon's skin.

As the hold was released, Kyuubi suddenly let out a loud scream as Kraken abruptly pushed out hundreds of sharp stings from the other part of the still embedded tentacle's sides and let them scratch his inner flesh as it slipped out of Kyuubi's spleen.

Forced to bend his knees from the surprised outcome, Kyuubi hung his neck in pang and quickly blinked his eyes open as the second of Kraken's sharp tentacles began to form under the water before shooting out after him.

Quickly dodging it and moving to the side, Kyuubi flinched as the blast of water suddenly came from behind him and he turned around only to be met with the back of Kraken's hand that smack him into the mug and forced him to the side.

Bracing his feet to not fall on his back, Kyuubi bend down from the other tentacles going above him and jumped over Kraken's whole form as some of the tentacles nearly got him from underneath.

Not too fast in its flexibility, Kraken only managed to turned its heavy neck back before shouting in pain as Kyuubi dug his teeth deep into the other side of its shoulder.

Placing his front paws against the sea-monster's back, Kyuubi pierced them through the shell-hard skin and slowly dragged down, digging deep splits of blood that began gushing out in streaming flows.

Growling deep and low, Kraken managed to reach behind it and grabbed Kyuubi's neck before forcing him up and over the shoulder.

Grabbing dazed Naruto by the collar Itachi quickly pushed from Kyuubi's back and jumped away, while Kirabi, Akira, Osamu and Satoru looked at each other before following suit.

Kyuubi groaned as he was slammed back first against the hard water.

Landing atop Kraken's shoulder, the five shinobi looked down as Kyuubi quickly pulled himself together and rolled to the side before Kraken's hand dropped on top of him.

Gasping and getting himself onto his shaking feet, Kyuubi flinched at the dripping wound in his side and glared up at the blurring form of the one-armed Kraken. Shaking his head to clear the fogging sight, Kyuubi let out an angry cry and stormed at Kraken who brought its tentacles in front of it as a shield.

Slashing and biting through the slippery organs, Kyuubi growled as he jumped onwards and tackled the Kraken down, biting hard into its face.

The beast let out a scream and tried to grab the damned fox, but the demon placed his legs onto it and pushed away before it even made a grab.

Landing on his feet, Kyuubi's tails flickered in anger and he crunched low before jumping again and snapping his claws open.

Kraken's eyes knitted shut in anguish as Kyuubi's claws suddenly tore off a chunk of flesh from its cheek. Trying to gain distance, Kraken brought its tentacles forward.

Glimpsing to the side, Kyuubi frowned as he saw two of the tentacles going for him and instantly caught them between his jaws. Pinning their middle against the water with his front leg, he forced his neck to the side and snapped them off violently.

As the Kraken's eyes slid shut in another one of its piercing yells, the six nins quickly jumped off of it and landed back on Kyuubi's back.

Freeing the still remaining parts of the tentacles, Kyuubi glared as the Kraken wriggled them under the water and began backing away; outstretching its neck, it roared its rage at him.

Roaring back, Kyuubi didn't approve of cowardliness and abruptly pushed from his feet, running straight ahead at the bleeding beast. Ramming his head into Kraken's chest, Kyuubi braced his feet on the water and watched as the other monster fell down and slammed against the hard surface.

Expecting it to drown deep into the water, the six nins were rather surprised that it didn't. Blinking, they all looked up and were pleasantly startled to see dry land about half a mile from their reach. Apparently Kyuubi's fight against the sea-monster has led them all into solid grounds.

"Whoa-…" Not given time to finish, Naruto flinched as Kyuubi's whole body abruptly shook.

Clenching his eye close, Kyuubi groaned in slight pain as one of Kraken's slimy tentacles suddenly shot out and grabbed his front leg hard enough to break the bone, which it did.

Placing his other paw upfront, Kyuubi dug his claws into under water's soft ground to prevent the monster from pulling him closer to it, but that only resulted in another groan as Kraken abruptly grabbed him by his other leg and throat.

Left with the only support balanced on his back legs, Kyuubi abruptly let out a small shout as sharp stings suddenly slid out of the entwined tentacles' sides and pierced deeply into Kyuubi's flesh.

Beaten, bleeding and barely able to move on solid grounds, Kraken found at least some satisfaction by grabbing Kyuubi and beginning to squeeze the daylights out of him.

As Kyuubi struggled to get away, Kraken tightened its hold and started pulling the demon fox closer to itself.

Kyuubi felt his vision begin to blur more immensely than previously. Strange smell of acid and foul feeling entering his body made him gasp. _'Son of a vermin. It's dripping poison.'_

Crunching low on his back legs, Kyuubi knitted his eyes tight, placing everything left in his strength to fight against the strong pull and the deep pain from the poison that began invading his blood from those blasted stings.

Forcing another tentacle forward, Kraken charged it at one of the six shinobi on the demon's back but growled as Kyuubi's tails got in the way and smacked it to the side. Roaring in displeasure, Kraken grabbed Kyuubi's tails instead and dragged the demon even closer.

Flinching at the harsh pull on his sensitive tails, not to mention the pounding pain in his head from the fast spreading venom, Kyuubi's mind grew distant and he felt his feet slowly give up on their struggle.

That was all Kraken needed to finally jerked Kyuubi forward and right within its reach. Entwining more tentacles around Kyuubi's throat, the Kraken pulled him high up. Allowing the other few remaining tentacles fall loose, it snarled as it let out a dominant howl.

"Kyuubi!" yelling above the Kraken's roars, Naruto hopped to wake the dazing demon up.

Snapping his doubling eyes opened, Kyuubi felt deep tremors run down his spine as the distance between him and the Kraken went less than ten meters apart.

A delightful sneer seemed to appear on Kraken's mouth and it raised its gigantic hand up.

'…_accursed p-pismire,'_ clenching his teeth, Kyuubi suddenly opened his mouth wide.

"Huh?" looking up, Kirabi and the other three men looked on in vague interest as something bright began to form from within Kyuubi's mouth; except for Itachi and Naruto, who already knew what results it would bring and grabbed a tight hold on Kyuubi's fur.

The bright light suddenly exploded from within Kyuubi's mouth, shooting straight into Kraken's startled look with an inescapable fate…

**BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM…**

* * *

Having long since finishing his historical review of the 'Uchiha-Massacre', Gaara wondered how much longer will Minato keep staring at him…

Reaching blindly for the bottle, Minato looked at Gaara one more time and then took a harsh gulp down the throat. _'God what kind of a world do they come from?'_

Finally get some movements from the man, Gaara felt it safe to proceeded with their last discussions, "Now that that's talked over, I guess we should continue where we lastly left off. …So about, Nar-…"

Holding up his hand, Minato was still staring. "There's too much information Gaara. Let me breathe."

Nodding in understanding, Gaara glanced to the side. "Sure."

Sighing, Minato took another swing from the bottle, trying to digest the overflow of information.

Studying some paintings on the wall, Gaara thought in silence, "I guess that also clears some of the visuals of Naruto's hatred towards Itachi Uchiha." _'Even though it's only the beginning of it. After all, I haven't even mentioned the Akatsuki yet.'_

"How nice of you to tell me this only _now_," sarcastically marked Minato, frowning at the red-head who merely smirked,

"Yes…it is."

Placing the bottle down Minato asked, "Why are you telling me all this?"

"In order for you to get Naruto's trust, I want you to know how he feels… and that includes telling you about the pain he went through, no matter how small or insignificant it was."

"But there were no connections with him and the Uchiha-Massacre. How does that make any sense?"

Turning his eyes towards the man, Gaara said, "…Sasuke is the one who makes them."

* * *

Blinking his eyes open, despite their visual lack, Naruto uncovered his head and looked up. Everything was as calm as the ocean waves beneath…

…that is besides the demon's struggling breath and deep rises and falls of his back that forced the blond to his feet in seconds. Jumping over the demon's head, Naruto landed on Kyuubi's muzzle and placed his hand on the bridge of his nose.

"Hey…hey!…"

Lidding his eyes open, Kyuubi's blurred vision slowly made a picture of one concerned looking blond trying to shaking him awake. "You're so eager, kid. Didn't know you'd miss me this much." The fox's weak chuckle didn't amuse the boy even for the slightest; smelling the blood trickle from Kyuubi's mouth brought only more agitation within.

"…Are…are you hurt?"

"Such a humanlike way of thinking," breathing hard, Kyuubi closed his eyes. "Of course I'm hurt boy, but does that make anything better by telling you?"

Biting his lip, Naruto glanced to the side, feeling the cold radiation of the lifeless Kraken about a mile away…or mainly just some parts that were left of it. "You killed it."

Kyuubi smirked. "Don't insult me, child. What else could you expect?"

Something trickling through the fox's fur and onto his fingers made Naruto abruptly jerk his hand back. "…Poison? …Kyuubi…you…"

The blond's worries went through deaf ears as Kyuubi just grinned, "Aa…. The slime managed to puncture through my flesh and drag poison before I sent him to Hell. Such a pathetically low kill."

Naruto's eyes would have grown twice as much, were he able to see all those crimson floods dripping from Kyuubi's body and marking the ocean beneath the lying demon's stomach, but regardless he didn't, much to Kyuubi's silent pleasure.

"…but wh-what's gonna happen now…?"

"I'm not expecting you to ask the obvious, boy." Trying to move his muscles, Kyuubi hissed at the burning protests from every bruised or torn muscle and relaxed his posture.

Naruto shook his head, "…No… Yo-you're gonna be alright. You can heal… …right…?"

Snorting, Kyuubi brought forth one of his tails and caught a falling tear from Naruto's eyes. "So many emotions in such a strong little boy…, this isn't fitting for a half-breed such as yourself. After all, isn't it like _humans_ like to say – sooner or later…your time will come anyway…" _'It's over, Naruto.'_

Naruto's heart crashed against the ribcage. "…die? …n-no…" He felt panic rise… The idea of grasping the fact that his summon was going down like that was ridiculous. He couldn't actually be _dying_. …He was too strong for that …too strong to be beaten. "…but…how? Y-y…you can't…die… …" stammered the boy.

"…" losing his grin, Kyuubi lid his eyes closed, not wanting to say anything. _'Stop living in fantasies child. Nothing is ever eternal.'_

'…_no…h-he can't…'_ Naruto felt lost. He couldn't grasp, didn't understand…, didn't know what to do…how to help? What could he do? He was too weak… too weak to deal… too weak to handle… and too weak to…protect…

'…_protect?…'_ It was so strange to say such a distant word. For how long has he been apart from his 'true ninja way'? …It's all been too long…too far gone to reach.

'…_but still…it feels so good to have it.'_ Lost within his own mind, Naruto didn't feel himself lay his head against Kyuubi's muzzle until he close his tearing eyes, hearing only distant whisper leave his mouth without any intention, "…please… …don't die."

Opening his eyes, Kyuubi's lips stretched upwards, _'Such a lost little boy you are…Naruto…'_

* * *

Sudden pain launched itself directly into Gaara's chest, forcing him to suppress a low hiss as he grasped his shirt near the heart.

A small crack made his eyes snap open, looking slowly up, Gaara's eyes widened at the cracked line of Minato's bottle on the table. _'An omen…'_

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_**è**__ Thanks to reviewers:_ saya420, Kathie-Rin, XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, xfighter4, narubby23, Whiteinu1 & Truth and Reconciliation! XDD

_**è**__ replies:_

Whiteinu1 – sorry, but nah…I ain't sure where that kind a story is; try lookin' in 'community'.  
& as for the next chps, well, sorry again, but them are gonna be manyXD Guess long & niggling chps are my weakness, there are just too many things to explain;) …Perhaps one day I might just drop…XP

Truth and Reconciliation – I guess ya can say that;)


	29. Chapter 29

'_**Chapter 29'**_

* * *

Sniffing silently, Naruto whipped his eyes, fingering a few strands of Kyuubi's fur.

Breathing deep inhales and small exhales, Kyuubi found it rather peacefully pleasant to have someone near him at such a dim time as this; it felt indefinitely _nice_ and annoyingly _caring_.

"…I…" Opening his tired eyes, Kyuubi looked at Naruto as he whispered. "…I know a way…"

Lifting a brow, Kyuubi's eyes lidded wider. "What are you talking about?"

Pulling himself up to sit, Naruto whipped away his sniffing nose and whispered a bit louder. "I know how to heal you…"

Frowning, Kyuubi silently hissed, "And in return risk on losing your sight forever? As tempting as an offer it might be under other circumstances, I don't want my only…kin to suffer."

Chuckling lightly at the warmth those strange words brought, Naruto shook his head. "Who cares about my sight? But alas, it ain't the princip' I'm getting at." Chewing on his lip, Naruto subconsciously encircled a hand around his stomach and turned his eyes elsewhere. "You might not like it, but it is the only possibility I can offer."

Curious as well as partly wary, Kyuubi kept quiet.

"I…aaa…I can…" sighing, Naruto didn't understand why it was so hard to say it. _'Perhaps it's because that way I'll be taking away his freedom.'_ Closing his eyes, Naruto continued, "I don't have enough strength to heal your body through medical, but I…at least I can offer you…redemption which has enough time and space to help you. …But for that, I need to…seal you…inside of me."

Kyuubi's eyes partly widened and partly narrowed.

"…this way…your life will depend entirely on me…" knitting his brows, Naruto looked away. _'…I'm sorry…but I don't know what else to do…'_

* * *

Staring at the bottle, Gaara abruptly stood up, starting Minato in place.

"I have to go."

Blinking as the boy suddenly went for the exit, Minato glanced at the bottle and spotted a small crack near the end. Frowning he looked back at the doors and sighed seeing them empty and widely opened.

Bowling along through the halls and pass the many rooms, Gaara ignored the other curious inhabitants coming out as he went down the stairs and through the entrance door.

Rubbing his head, Obito looked down from the stairs and exchanged glances with Zetsu and Kisame. "What was that all about?"

"Minor hitch." Coming from behind, Minato brushed pass them and went down.

"Is everything alright, sensei? What's going on anyways? What was that kid doing here?" Leaning against the railings, Obito and the other approaching 'Akatsuki-s' watched as Minato closed the entrance doors and look up at them.

"Sorry Obito. I lost you at the part where it's any of your business." Grinning, Minato ignored the groaning sounds of protest and went into the kitchen.

* * *

Finally reaching the forest's lake, Gaara blinked as he saw ten knocked out Anbu and one regaining old-man lying on the ground.

Rubbing his head, Gennou grouchily sat up and opened his eyes just in time to see Gaara's feet stop in front of him.

Crossing his arms, Gaara glared. "Where's Kyuubi?"

The red-head's demanding tone and narrowed eyes made Gennou want to hide.

* * *

Waking up to the sounds of someone's murmurs, Itachi's eyes lidded open and he blinked, wondering wherever he was, until memories hit back as soon as his arms brushed against fur. Pushing himself up, he hissed as his head gave out a wild spin and slowly stood up.

Encircling his bruised stomach, Itachi took light steps against Kyuubi's back, careful enough to evade the gaping, bleeding hole on the demon's side or any other harsh cuts and splits dripping with venom, and walked atop his head.

Looking down, his eyes quickly descended on Naruto before averting them onto the demon which appeared to be looking up at him.

Saying nothing, Kyuubi rolled his eyes back on Naruto and sank in curiosity as the boy began talking about the possibility of healing him.

Itachi listened on, his eyes lightly widened as the boy neared his final point. _'Seal? His insane.'_ thought Itachi. _'A human cannot withstand such tremendous quantity of chakra unless born within.'_

Kyuubi scowled, "You won't be able to handle the third source if you seal me inside you, squirt. You still can't even grasp the second, which, if I may remind, is partly my own."

Itachi's eyes narrowed, taking in every new information given away. _'Seems that Shisui was right, he _is_ the descendant of the demon. But that still doesn't appear to be the case.'_

"Yes I can!" waving his fists, protested Naruto, "Just give me time to heal completely and I'll have everything down flat. And don't you flatter yourself so much, fur-ball, your chakra is nothing that _I_ can't handle! 'Hmph!'"

"God, you're getting on my nerves. I'm serious!" hissed the fox.

"So am I!" Naruto just hissed back.

"Irritating brat! Do you want to get yourself killed?"

"Yea well, at least I'll be taking you down with me!"

"Curse your human brains!"

"Stop fussing on humans you damn racist!"

Staring at the two creatures growling and glaring at one another, Itachi couldn't help but be slightly amused.

Sighing, Naruto finally lowered his head, begging, "Please…please let me do it…. I just …_I don't… please just don't leave._"

Softening his glare at the barely audible whisper, Kyuubi closed his eyes and took in a deep-deep inhale. _'Treacherous conscience.'_

* * *

Staring through the glass at the Anbu being interrogated by Sarutobi and Namikaze at the same time as being healed by medics, Gaara leant against the wall just as Gennou came around.

Chuckling as he saw the Anbu shake their heads at yet another question, Gennou placed his hands behind his back and settled next to the silent red-head. "Was it really necessary to erase their memories?"

Frowning, Gaara said, "Kyuubi wasn't supposed to leave the village. That was one of the main conditions made by the five nations – Naruto could have no outer aid; inter alia the summon's restriction." Turning then to the old-man, Gaara warned, "And as long as you keep quiet about it, no one will have to know. Let them believe Kyuubi went back to his world."

"Tsk-tsk-tsk, shame on you my little _compagne_. Are you trying to force me into circumvention?"

"I'm not trying," frowned the red-head, "I am. Besides, whenever did the breaking of rules begin to bother you?"

"Heh, can't argue there." chuckled Gennou. "Well ok then. Let's say that I keep quiet, …but what about the watchers? Surely they saw everything unless they haven't gone blind by that time."

"Glad you find it amusing, Gennou, because I don't."

"Oh come now… I'm just speaking my mind. Besides, wanna know a secret? Before the fox left, he told me that Naruto is as good as a goner. Not sure what it meant exactly but hey, if that ain't funny I don't know what is."

'_Were there more menace and thrill within this man, I'd say he was the exact replica of Shukaku. Christ, he has more dark humor than Naruto and Kyuubi combined.'_ "You're a fool. If anything, I'm sure Kyuubi had a good reason to leave, and that'll be enough to keep the others silent. And if not, I'll tear out their vocals…yours included."

"How cold, Gaara-kun. One would think you'd actually show better judgments for your 'uncle'." an abrupt snake-like snigger quickly silenced both former-vessels as two Sannin suddenly appeared around the corner.

"Now then, what was that you were saying about the summon?" grinned Jiraiya.

Sighing, Gennou rubbed his neck and leant close to the red-head, "Are you going to perform that mind-'raper' of yours again? 'Cause at this rate, I won't be surprised if the entire village will know of the happenings by lunchtime."

"Keep jinxing it," snarled the red-head.

* * *

Keeping his breathing as calm and relaxed as the pain permit, Kyuubi let his eyes close and the mind drift into subconsciousness as Naruto knelt in front of him and held his left hand against the dark muzzle whilst his right hand's claws pierced the flesh around his own exposed navel.

Curious as to why the small drops of water kept falling against his shoulder, as if trying to coax him awake, Kyuubi let his eyes lid halfway up and blinked at the sudden change of landscape. Besides the afar glimmer of a white light facing straight forward, everything else stood in deep darkness and water beneath his feet.

Looking pass his shoulder, Kyuubi's eyes narrowed as the dark walls led it far into a dirty-yellow light, similar to the other.

Not bothered by the white side calling him out, he rounded his built and went for the yellow-light.

The drops of water seemed to intensify as he neared closer to his chosen goal. Stepping pass the light, Kyuubi closed his eyes as it abruptly magnified and blinded his vision.

As soon as he deemed it pass, he opened his eyes again and blinked them wide as before him revealed thick iron gates that stretched to the very heights of the endless ceilings.

Looking back down, Kyuubi's brows narrowed in deep curiosity. The lower parts of the gates covered cracked lines, rusty edges with bent bars forced from the inside (as if someone was trying to break through), and had the visual marks of thick claws on their sides. The central gap between the gates held a smeared seal, where three long claw-like scratches marked its diagonal.

"Repugnant…, ain't it?"

Startled at the sudden voice, Kyuubi's eyes lowered down to meet the blond midget standing by his front paws. "You can see it?" asked Kyuubi, looking back up the gates.

"It's my mind." smiled Naruto, "I'm expected to see in it."

Frowning at the dark echoes of water drops and hollows of sounds deeply within the gate's core, Kyuubi asked, "What is this?"

Turning his back to the gates, Naruto looked up at the cracked pipes covered in nothing but rust and water. "All this…was once 'your' confinement."

Flicker of anger glimmered within Kyuubi's eyes as an intentional hiss passed his sharp teeth at the very thought of such a seal.

The demon's action made Naruto look down in shame. "I don't expect you to like it… not even think of it. However, it's probably going to look just like that when I-… …restrict you of your freedom."

Kyuubi turned away from the gates and looked down at the blond trying to shrink himself within his own arms. The way the words left the blond gave Kyuubi irrelevant thoughts about the boy's reaction. "Is there something you're afraid of, boy?"

Dropping his arms from hugging himself, Naruto mustered up a glare, "Wh-who's afraid? I ain't afraid of anythin'!"

Kyuubi just stared back at him.

"Tch," crossing his arms, Naruto turned the demon his back and started walking towards the dark exit, "Come on. Let's go."

Grabbing him within his tail, Kyuubi prevented the boy from getting away.

"Oi! What are ya doin'?"

"Is it really this hard for you to answer me for once?"

"What's this all of a sudden? Answer what?" gritting his teeth, Naruto tried to get the gripping tail off of himself, "I already told you, I ain't afraid of anything!"

"But you _are_ afraid of _nothing_, aren't you?"

Stopping squirming, Naruto looked up at the demon with arched brow. "What a Hell? What is that supposed to mean?"

"What's the matter? Can't admit your weakness?"

"Damn it, Let me go! We don't have time for this! I must he-…"

"No! I want to hear you answer me straight! Tell me, why do you place so much effort in saving my life?"

"What a Hell, Kyuubi? What's gotten into you? What! Ya want to tell me you're tired of living?" growled the blond.

"And if so, what would _you_ do about it?"

Kyuubi's indifference and narrowed eyes started to scare Naruto. "What…what kind of a stupid question is that!"

"Would you let me go if I asked you?"

Snapping his mouth shut, Naruto's eyes grew wide. "Wha-…Why are you asking me all this?"

"I told you, I want to hear your answer. Why do you need someone like me in your life? Do you even know what you want from this so called life? What are you so afraid? Why do you hide? What purpose does it give? All this has something that connects the fright within you, Naruto, and I want to hear you say _what it is_."

"For whatever the sick reason?"

"For admission of your defiance and ignorance!" Kyuubi bit back.

Snapping his teeth, Naruto clenched the fox's fur tight. "There is no answer to that!"

"Say it!" commanded the demon.

Sealing his eyes, Naruto shook his head.

"Answer me!" growled Kyuubi.

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHAT YOU WANT!" screamed Naruto.

"You're stubborn!" hissed the fox, frowning as the blood starting to flow between his teeth; he was slowly dying.

Seeing this, Naruto's expression changed dramatically. "Kyuubi, please. Let me do the seal. You're dy-"

"So what?" suddenly said the fox, an emotionlessly deep look spreading over his whole features. "In case you haven't noticed, I _want_ to die, Naruto!"

Naruto's mind froze there, "W-w-what!"

Kyuubi's expression went straight and serious as he commanded in a harsh tone. "I said: _Let Me Go_!"

Shaking his head, Naruto felt his eyes tear in mental pain, "…n…no, I can't…"

"Why?" frowning, asked Kyuubi.

"…b-because I… …. J-just look, let me-…"

"I told you, I…Don't…Want…To…Live…Anymore! Can't you understand that!" stressing each word, Kyuubi barred his teeth.

Naruto's felt his world crumble and he yelled, "BUT WHY? Why do you want to die?"

Kyuubi's mug took on a humorless smirk, "Because apparently there is no more need for me in this world."

"I NEED YOU… I Need You!"

"WHY…Do You _Need Me_?" hissed Kyuubi.

"BECAUSE…" screaming at first try, Naruto lowered his voice as he finally caught on with the long since unheard words floating within his mind, "…because I don't… I don't want to be…" Full with shame and embarrassment, Naruto avoided his gaze onto his hands and admitted his fear, "…_lonely_."

A genuine smile slowly appeared on Kyuubi's face and he closed his eyes, "…Aa…that's what I wanted to hear."

Naruto's eyes widened in startle, daring to meet the eyes of the giant.

Reaching out, Kyuubi placed the boy on his head and started a slow pace towards the exit. "Loneliness, Naruto…is that very same _nothing_ that you are afraid of. I'm just relieved you could finally admited that to yourself."

* * *

Going throughout the thick darkness, the two finally came before the white light.

"Is this it?" asked Kyuubi.

Still slightly stupefied and angry at the demon's totally unfair manipulation ways which forced him to voice out _those_ few words (or as the fox liked to put it – his fears), Naruto woke up at the call and then nodded, "Aa…just go in." Lidding his eyes at the brightening light, Naruto waited as the demon took the final steps in and they entered.

The spacious endlessness held nothing but blank color – all was white.

Jumping off of Kyuubi's head, Naruto was pleasantly surprised that he did not fall to the ground in a harsh land but with a soft catch.

Turning around to face the meters tall fox, Naruto shrugged his shoulders as the giant arched his brow in question about the white place. "Guess it's a start to a new." Kneeling then on the ground he looked expectantly at the demon.

Frowning, Kyuubi lowered his body and sat on his tired paws; lying his head down he never left Naruto from his sight.

Placing his right hand against the demon's muzzle, Naruto lowered his eyes as he positioned his left hand around the exposed navel and pierced his nails in…

* * *

Itachi's eyes snapped towards the demon as he gave out a sudden flinch and a hiss.

Kyuubi's claws scrapped and dug into the waterside's sand, trying to find leverage that could help hold in the ripping feeling of his blood and soul.

A swirl of deep-red chakra began to form and surround the two 'foxes', making water steam up as well as cool the burning heat that began scrapping the sand.

Stepping a few steps back, Itachi brought his elbow up to shield his face from the intensifying radiation of the heat and swirling sand that arose from the gathering winds.

Clouds seemed to thicken in darkness as the winds disturbed the nature's wonders and brought them within its own force.

Sweat started to slide down Naruto's temples as his charka swirl began to intensify and thicken as much as in color as in quantity. Slowly, Kyuubi's and Naruto's swirls expanded enough to make contact.

Itachi clapped his teeth and narrowed his eyes as the two charkas exploded at the contact and began scrapping against each other until the blend was made and they merged in one.

As if on emotion, the swirls united and sought out the peace between one another. Soon they calmed and lessened their force into slow flow.

Itachi watched as the swirls left Naruto's circle and went around the Nine-Tails. Suddenly they rose in waves and picked up the pace and before his eyes could catch it, Kyuubi disappeared within them. As the swirls lowered, Itachi blinked as they suddenly changed course and shot directly at Naruto…

…Naruto let out a loud yell as the demon's final chakra slammed right into his stomach and forced him off his feet.

On reflex, before the teen met the ground's painful land, Itachi appeared in his way and caught him.

Lowering the unconscious teen down, Itachi watched in mid-interest as a swirling circle appeared on the boy's stomach before it faded away.

* * *

Opening his tired lids, the first sight to meet the eye were tall trees and dark sky. _'…odd…'_

Pushing his weight from the soft ground, he blinked around the thick forest and knitted his eyes tighter as he caught sight of huge iron bars barely visible behind the large trees; the new gates were halfway opened.

Squirming to his feet, he almost fell off as the 'ground' he was on gave a deep intake of air. "Kyuubi?" Before the blond could confirm his discovery, a sharp tail suddenly smack him off like a bugging fly.

"GHA!" clumsy as hell, Naruto landed painful on his mind's real ground. "What was that for, fur-ball!" spitting grass from his mouth, Naruto glared at the smirking demon who quickly hid it and gave out a loud yawn.

"Sorry. Didn't see you there."

"I bet…shitty Reynard." cursing, Naruto pulled himself up and rubbed his hurting neck.

Looking back at the sealing gates, Naruto couldn't help but be proud of himself and he turned his smug grin towards the lying, slowly healing fox. "Hah! What do you have to say about that, huh! I told you I could do it! Yeah! I rock!"

Rolling his eyes, Kyuubi grunted, "Whatever."

"Dha! Don't you 'whatever' me, you ball of fluff! Praise me, your new King!"

"Shut up, stupid king, before I eat you alive!"

"A-ah! That's no more to your abilities." smirking, Naruto wiggled his finger at him.

"How fortunate for you," growled Kyuubi before turning his attention towards the gates. "Why are they opened?" he frowned.

Shrugging, Naruto said, "You weren't taken by force or as a prisoner. More over you were willing to be sealed, thus permitting you to get out of my body if I summon you. At least, that's what I think it means…."

"Great feedback, brat."

"Ain't it?" chuckled the blond.

Looking at his front paw, Kyuubi's eyes softened as he saw them heal under the boy's chakra. "…it is."

* * *

Observing the still unconscious blond while sitting cross-legged beside him, Itachi's eyes snapped up as soon as he heard light splashes of feet against the water.

Looking to the side, he arched a brow as he saw the forgotten four 'watchers' some limping the others dragging themselves towards him.

Kneeling on the other side of the lying teen, Satoru asked, "What happened to him?"

"Got in the way of the blast," lied Itachi. "Where were you?"

"Got _blow_ away _by_ the blast." said Osamu, rubbing his bruised bicep.

"Where's the Nine-Tails?" asked Kirabi.

"Gone," shortly replied Itachi before looking at them with narrowed eyes. "Considering it as a slight flaw within the plans, neither of you is to mention the Nine-Tails interference in your reports. I believe it's understandable?"

Low growls and hard glares were the first reaction to meet ones sight as _lightning_, _water_ and _rock_ displayed their silent reluctance towards the matter until finally giving up and agreeing.

* * *

Lidding his eyes slowly open, Naruto moaned, wanting to close them in effort to go back to that place where he could see, but had to groan as some jerk shook him and didn't give him that chance.

"Alright!" finally growled Naruto and smacked the offensive hand shaking him, "I'm awake!"

"_Finally_," grunted Akira.

"You're still alive? Don't move, I'ma gonna kill you," grumbled Naruto and struggled to get up and finish the task on killing the foul-mouth, but yelped as his feet cramped and he fell down.

"BWahahaha…" of course, Kirabi went into another fit of horse-laughter, while Itachi shook his head and pulled the teen up by his elbow.

"So… any idea where we are?" cocking his hip, Osamu stretched a smile as he searched about the shore.

The land was rather dry, covering thick layers of mystical mist beneath feet but still satisfactory full with living green trees, even though on closer look they appeared slightly ill.

"Judging by the looks, we're apparently in the Valley Country." analyzed the _sand_-nin.

"In that case, congratulations, _gentlemen_! We're at our final destination."

Ignoring Osamu's enthusiasm, Naruto sniffed the air and rubbed his suddenly hungry stomach, before long they made their way into the misty forest.

* * *

Finding himself sitting once again back in the Namikaze's household, Gaara rubbed his hurting temples. Even though he was in a different room now (thankfully more spacious if considering it necessary), he still hissed to himself as the deal with the 'suddenly' increased presence of 'some' would-be-interests enforced. _'God, does this dimension even know of such a thing as _secrecy_? How the hell does the information spread about so fast?'_ Looking past his fingers, Gaara did a mental groan as his eyes landed on six infamous 'Akatsuki-s' (Kisame, Hidan, Zetsu, Kakuzu, Sasori, Deidara), three prideful Anbu (Obito, Kakashi, Shisui), two Sannin (Orochimaru, Jiraiya) and finally, though expectantly,: Nagato, Sarutobi and Gennou.

Glaring at the guiltily chuckling builder, Gaara grumbled. "I thought it told you to keep your yap shut!"

"I'm innocent! They forced me, honest!" Drawing a cross against his heart, swore Gennou.

"That twitch under your lips makes it hard to believe." mumbled the irritated red-head.

Closing the doors behind himself, Minato entered the room and took a seat in between Sandaime and Nagato.

'_I feel like in the process of a judgment,'_ thought Gaara as he stared at all those people behind the main-heads sitting in front of him. _'Crud! Why did I refuse Temari and Kankuro's offer to go back to Suna? …Aa, but of course, because of Kyuubi…, who's gone. Tch, what a Hell happened, Naruto?'_

Watching the red-head muss between his own thoughts, Minato cut him short, "What is going on, Gaara? Where's the Nine-Tails?"

Closing his eyes, Gaara dropped his head back against the chair. "Gone."

"We know that," said Sarutobi, "Where to?"

"I don't know."

"If so, then why did you perform such tremendous actions in order to hide the information?"

"What actions?"

"The 'mind-raper'," Gennou added his two cents.

Looking at him with already distinguishable 'I'll-kill-you' glare, Gaara explained his reasons in erasing Anbu from their last memories and the possibility of information's outflow if the sudden disappearance of Kyuubi were to fall on wrong ears, adding the effect it might cause. "The other kages will grab anything they can in order to win this little bet of yours, no matter how small or insignificant the flows might be; every detail of their rule counts. It won't even dwell on them if they are told that the summon was the choice of emergency, which I'm now more than sure it was."

Minato's eyes lowered, worry clearly visible within his eyes before he closed them shut. "Is there any way you can contact the Nine-Tails?"

Sharing a glance with Gennou, who, for once, lost his cheerful smile and shook his head in straight denial, Gaara answered, "There isn't. If anyone is able to do it that would be Naruto."

Nodding, Minato and Sarutobi turned to whisper to one another while Nagato kept his gaze carefully fixed on the red-head; the two former vessels' exchange didn't go completely unnoticed.

Feeling someone's intense stare, Gaara dared to look up and gaze into the orange-haired male's eyes that flickered between strange circles and blank grey. _'This man is unnerving.'_

Breaking the intensity, Sarutobi stood up and smoothened his robe, "Very well then. I believe there is no more need to stall this subject. Clearly there is nothing more we can do but wait. However, can I count on the others to keep quiet about this matter? No-one else is to know!" looking pointedly at everyone behind him, Hiruzen smiled as he received curt nods. "Ok, then I better get back home, Konohamaru wanted to talk to me about something. And besides, the Tower is still being rebuilt and there just isn't that many places to go to anymore," winking at the red-headed teen, Sandaime excused himself and left the room under Minato's escort.

One by one, the others left the room as well and with one final scowl from Deidara the doors closed. Gaara opened his eyes and frowned, seeing only one, unwanted, person sitting in front of him – Nagato.

Leaning against the sofa, the orange-haired placed his elbows on back supporter and stared at the red-head long and hard. "Mind telling me why you lied about the possibility in connecting the Nine-Tails?"

"Does it even matter?" asked the red-head. "What point would you gain in contacting him? Either way he wouldn't listen to whatever it is you would want to ask him."

"I see you're no longer hiding the fact that you indeed lied."

"Perhaps…perhaps not…"

Nagato frowned. "Do you understand that you are diminishing ways that could help your brother?"

"But do _you_ understand that your help will only infuriate him?" the red-head retorted. "Naruto is a complex and stubborn person who likes to do things on his own, I thought you already knew that…. Further than that he dislikes you…how do you think he will react if you suddenly butt in with your pressure?"

Nagato's fists clenched. "What's with this _hate_ significance? Why can't you tell me clear reasons what connects me with the happenings in your past?"

Narrowing his eyes, Gaara said, "Same reason why you can't tell me who you are to Naruto."

The elder man's eyes slightly widened before softening in thought.

Taking note into his actions, Gaara frowned as he then said, "I will tell you about your…_past_, as you put it, …if you tell me your connection with Naruto." _'Even though I already have a good guess.'_

Nagato shook his head, "I fear that the past I had with Naruto will affect the relationship I have with him now."

Falling into a long pause and watching at the man sinking within his own thoughts, Gaara suddenly said without a hitch or compassion, "You are his godfather, aren't you?"

Narrowed circled eyes frowned as they met deep-green.

The red-head didn't even flinch but simply absorbed him.

"How did you know?"

"I guessed."

Glaring at the calm teen, the orange-haired snarled and looked to the side. "Aa…, I am. After all…Minato _is_ just as my friend as he is my stepbrother."

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_**è**__ Thanks to reviewers:_ XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, Orannis4, Yoko. no. unmei, -siarafaerie-101-miss, BloodRavenMaiden, gagougae, narubby23, PirateCaptainBo, saya420 & Whiteinu1!  
XDD

& especial thanx ta MadMonki!=DD

_**è**__ replies:_

Whiteinu1 – heh, summer sort a reflects more free time, huh…;) Though I don't think that way the chps will increase in frequency, 'cause I'm rather slow & lazy. But I'll try ta write & post them faster;)


	30. Chapter 30

'_**Chapter 30'**_

* * *

Step after step, inhale before exhale, Naruto thought he was going to vomit. Placing his hand against the tree, he encircled his abdomen and bent down to try and dim the sickness away.

"You alright?" coming behind the panting teen, Itachi looked around the foggy forest and the rest of the nins who stopped a few steps in front of them.

Shaking his head, Naruto answered in a positive hiss, "I'm fine."

Watching him suddenly go weak in the knees, Itachi grabbed his elbow and frowned. "I can see that."

Cursing his treacherous legs and body, Naruto grumbled as the Uchiha helped him lean against the tree. "I…I think I need some rest."

Glimpsing to the side, seeing the other 'watchers' come towards them, Itachi stood up. "We'll set here for a few hours."

"Why?" grumbled Akira, even though everyone ignored him.

Nodding towards the already passed out boy, Kirabi asked, "What's with him?"

"Exhaustion." simply replied Itachi and set beside the sleeping blond. "Two hours should be enough for him."

"Aa…I can go with that," pleased, Erizawa plopped down on the ground.

* * *

"That kid is strange. You can never guess what he is thinking." Entering the Namikaze's back yard, Orochimaru looked up at the clouded sky and sighed, "Sometimes I even think he doesn't care about his brother as much as one would hope."

"Oh he cares for him alright," smiled Gennou, plucking off a white rose from the bush. "He just expresses it in a far deeper and complex way for you and I to actually understand."

"This doesn't show a thing. Why is he hesitating to help his brother?"

"Well aren't you overly protective today. Relax. Have trust in the kid, after all, Gaara _is_ trying everything he can to help us and Naruto get back along. You should show more appreciation to that, not shun him behind his back."

Hissing at him for pointing the points, Orochimaru turned away.

Sniggering at that, Jiraiya patted the old-vessel on the back, "Don't mind him. He is just too concerned for his own good, even though he will never admit it."

Chuckling, Gennou nodded his head, "I can tell."

"Now here's a good old man example for you." A sudden amused voice exclaimed behind the two sniggering men. "The back yard, calm atmosphere, three old-geezers sniffing flowers… yea, that should be the perfect substance for that."

Startled, they all turned around and blinked at the sight of a handsome smirking man standing not too far behind them. He wore a costumed ninja wear with a light overcoat. His hair was a light shade of light-orange mixed with blond; though the most noticeable feature that stood out were his blue-eyes and many piercings in both ears and two sharp-ones under the lower lip.

"Yahiko?"

"Yo, sensei!" he grinned at the dumbfound _toad_-Sannin.

Shaking his stupor away, Jiraiya glared and reached out to smack the blue-eyed male on the head, "After six years of absence that's all that you're going to say to me?"

Dodging his sensei's punch, Yahiko brought his hands up, "Whoa-whoa-whoa now! That's not my fault…it sort a happened and…"

"Sort a happened my ass! You brat, come here! I'm gonna punch you into unconsciousness for six more years!"

Orochimaru sweat-dropped as the two grown adults started running around him like bloody brats, yelling to each other God knows what….

Finally getting annoyed, he grabbed Yahiko by the collar and kicked Jiraiya in the stomach.

"Cut this shit out!"

Laughing from the side, Gennou came to ruffle the younger male's hair and smacked him on the back. "You've grow taller, haven't you, little 'Hiko?"

Coughing at the harsh kick, Yahiko composed his spiky hair in a more pleasant way and smiled at the slightly shorter man. "Hey Gramps, how've you been?"

"Oh I've been," sniggered Gennou. "Especially the past few weeks. They've been…well, a lot of things."

Yahiko looked confused.

"Anyways…, where have you been all this time? We've missed you…particularly your brothers."

Rubbing his neck at that, Yahiko chuckled, "Aa…I've missed them too. 'Specially Minato. How's the little brat doing anyways?"

"Better than the old brat is." said an abrupt newcomer.

Turning quickly behind him, Yahiko's grin widened as his eyes met the reflecting blue. "Minato!"

Smiling at his near replica, Minato welcomed the advancing man with a tight embrace; but quickly scowled and growled as Yahiko began spinning him around little a doll.

"God, you've grown so thin, and yer still smaller than me."

Smacking away the hand messing his head, Minato finally got away from the overly excited man's hold and looked him up and down. "You look better than previously. Tch, though your style sure hasn't changed. How many more holes do you plan to put in that empty head of yours anyways?" pointing accusingly at the many metals around the beaming face, Minato frowned.

Placing his hands on hips, Yahiko teased, "Jealous?"

"Well _of course_ I am," sarcastically retorted the blond. "What would you do if I wasn't here to polish your stinking pride?"

"You know me so well."

Shaking his head, Minato still smiled at his foolish brethren and nodded him to come into the house.

Waving the old-coots a 'see ya later', Yahiko went after his brother.

Closing the doors behind him, he discarded his coat. "Where's Nagato?"

"He's busy right now." walking into the kitchen, Minato turned on the lights as it began getting darker outside and prepared some tea.

"Busy? That lazy-ass?"

"Look who's talking. If memory doesn't fool, I believe you were the laziest of us three."

"What are you talking about," chuckling, Yahiko pulled out a seat and straddled it. "Nagato is the lazy ass, you are the smart ass and I am the badass combined with sexy ass, that's how it's been all years. After all, I got the best looks from both my parents, you went after our father, and Nagato after his own mother."

Minato's fingers lightly twitched and he halted in the middle of pouring the hot liquid into the cup. _'That's right, after our father's death I even forgot the fact that we all came from different mothers. …And… father…'_ Minato's eyes dropped and his teeth clenched, feeling pain surge through his being at the mere mention of _that_ man.

Yahiko's eyes lightly widened before they lid halfway. "I'm sorry. Those are bad memories. I shouldn't have said that."

"No. Those are good memories." Turning to him, Minato smiled, even though it was forced, and handed the concerned elder his tea. "Despite the way all our parents were, we still came around and were there for each other…, remember?"

"But still, that man was a-…"

"Shut up!" Minato suddenly snapped and that got Yahiko to clap his mouth close. Sitting in front of the startled elder, Minato said. "I don't need to hear his name or any resembled initials of him around my house or even ever again! Understood?"

Nodding his head, Yahiko watched as the blond grabbed his tea and drank it himself.

Slamming the cup back down, Minato abruptly stood up and went out of the kitchen.

Staring at the empty cut of _his_ tea, Yahiko whispered, "Thanks for the tea." Shaking his head he then stood as well and went to look for the easily devastated blond.

Finding him in the veranda, he scowled at the smell of many different sorts of exotic flowers here and there and came to stand by the blond's side.

Dropping a hand around his shoulders, Yahiko said, "I had no idea the idea of him still bothers you so much. I thought you have long since forgotten about that."

Sighing, Minato bowed his head, "You don't understand. Under these whole new circumstances that have been happening the past few weeks…I fear that the way he was and the way I look like him…, I might have even become same as _him_." _'…especially in Naruto's world…'_

"That is not true…, you both are nothing alike."

"Heh…nice try in denial to that, Yahiko…; but I believe you still don't understand the main point here."

"What exactly?"

"…Naruto… he won't ever forgive me, no matter what I try."

Yahiko blinked in stupor and tried to clear his head by shaking it again. "Excuse me?"

Chuckling, Minato looked at the blinking elder in amused know-it-all look. "Oh that's right…, you thought I still had no memory of my son?"

"But Minato…he's-…"

"I know," smiled the blond, "but I think…we have finally found him."

Minato suddenly gasped as he was jerked to the side and forced to face the narrowed eyes of his furiously looking stepbrother.

"You knew that you found Naruto and you didn't tell me!"

Wriggling his one hand away from the squeezing grip, Minato raised his voice. "First of all, how could I have told you if you vanished through thin air for close millennium without a word or as much as a letter to go by? I had no idea where you were or were you even alive! And secondly, in case you have forgotten, you weren't even supposed to know about Naruto in the first place."

"You are my brother. And he is my godson!" yelled Yahiko. "I have every right to know of him! Sarutobi doesn't know how to listen to reasons. He made a mistake excluding me from the gang."

"Not after that episode of near banishment from the village. With your character and loose temper, he felt it was better to keep you away from influencing Naruto further than you had already."

Clapping his teeth, Yahiko cursed and released the blond from his death grip. "He knows nothing! It wasn't my fault then!"

"I know that. But Danzo was and still is an important member of the council. For pit'sake Yahiko, you nearly killed him."

"So! Hadn't that arrogant _friend_ of yours butted in, I would have succeeded!" seeing Minato's eyes lightly widen at the accusing manner he mentioned his diseased friend, Yahiko lowered his eyes, "…Sorry…"

"Iie." Pocketing his hands, Minato turned him his back. "It's alright. I know that you tried to protect us then, but violence was unnecessary at that time. Danzo had everything planned and pulled through with no evidence to blame him. Sarutobi found that out too but he still got mad you went on and disobeyed his orders again. And that left a little bit of a grudge towards you. Of course that all had gone by the time you went missing; he was very worried too. By the way…, where the heck have you run off to? Where were you hiding?"

Running a hand through his spikes, Yahiko sighed, "I didn't run off because I felt betrayed, angry or stupid crap like that, so don't worry about it. I just hopped I could find some information about Naruto's disappearance outdoors."

"Any luck in that?"

"None…, though why ask? You said you found him. Anyways, what a Hell we're doing still standing here? Take me to him already!"

Pulling his hand away from the one reaching out to him, Minato stepped back. "It's not that simple. I need to explain you something first."

"It's been years Minato, can't it wait? I want to see him…"

"Not yet! And it's not like you actually can now."

"What?"

"Follow me. We'll talk more in the office."

Having no choice in the matter, the taller went after the shorter.

Entering the halls, Yahiko took notice into one of the rooms they passed and frowned at the visible jutsu that marked the gaps, silencing the unheard whispers that it blocked.

"Nagato in there?" he wondered, pointing a thumb at the door behind them.

"Yeah…, don't bother him."

Arching a brow, Yahiko speeded up to catch with the blond man.

"By the way… there was something I wanted to ask you."

"What is it?"

"I heard some rumors going around."

"Rumors?"

"Something about two young _titan_-like beings with meters tall muscle-built bod's and the power to kill with a flicker of a finger. People say they appeared from the sky sent by gods. Or Hell if they debate…. Or whatever the hell that all means…."

Minato gave a small laugh at that. "Really… what else do those ridiculous rumors say?"

"That their current settling grounds are Konohagakure." Yahiko didn't miss the slight jerk in Minato's pace. "I see you know what I'm talking about."

"I do."

Yahiko was slightly surprised at the direct answer. "You do, huh…. Then what is it you're so reluctant to tell me straight away?"

"Something that will need a lot of strong supports and soundproofed walls."

"Why?"

"Knowing the way you'll scream at that what I'm going to tell you will probably break down my whole dam house."

* * *

Knitting his eyes, Naruto groaned as his mind slowly awakened his body and thus the bruised pain he felt all over his internal system. Blinking the last sleep away, he rubbed his eyes and frowned seeing all his 'watchers' resting. Kirabi was sprawled against the tree, Akira and Satoru lay on tree branches and Osamu, as appearance could tell, was left for the night guard, despite the fact that he had fallen dead-sleepy on the hard ground by the ended fire. Looking then up at the sky, he smirked, it was dark which meant he will be able to pull this scheme through.

Pushing himself from the tree he stilled as he felt movements by his side and looked over to see the Uchiha leaning against the tree with closed eyes.

Clenching his teeth, Naruto tried to subdue his burning will and the itching hand that hovered over the three-edged kunai by his hip. _'Dam you Gaara!'_

Huffing, he quickly got to his feet and looked one more time at the sleeping Itachi before turning around and…

"Ouch!" grabbing his nose, Naruto opened his eyes and glared up at the thing he just bumped into.

"GHA!" Jumping at the sight of a distinguishably familiar man standing before him, Naruto spluttered and gapped as he quickly looked back at the tree where the arrogant jerk of an Uchiha was supposed to be lying and then back to the man standing in front of him, who was that very same arrogant jerk of an Uchiha.

"What a?…! When did?…! How did you do that?"

Ignoring the stupefied teen's questions, Itachi frowned as he asked a question of his own, "Where are you going?"

Clapping his mouth shut, Naruto 'hmph'-ed and crossed his arms. "For a walk."

"At such an hour?"

"I'm a night-fanatic. Go figure. I like late evening strolls."

"Even in such a mystified place as this?"

"What's it to ya?"

"My job. Now where were you going, for real?" Itachi asked again.

"Have you noticed that you've been rather annoyingly talkative lately?"

"You're avoiding the question."

"Isn't that the point?" huffing, mumbled the blond.

"Doesn't mean I'm falling for it. Now answer my question."

"Urgh! Over there." was Naruto's smart reply, pointing at the dead fog-swallowed trees. "Happy?"

Arching a brow, Itachi glanced at the pointed direction. "And what's so interesting out there?"

"Argh! Ramen!" gritting his teeth Naruto snapped, "What is this? An interrogator's malice? Why are you asking me all this? Wait! Ah-ha…I know! You're trying to dig out ways to get me all alone and exposed to your advantage so you can then molest me in the dark woods, aren't you! You pervert!"

A twitch descended in Itachi's eye pretty fast. "You're insufferable."

Showing off his teeth, Naruto grinned, "And I haven't even bega-Hey! Let go! Where ya taking me?"

Grabbing the squirt by his elbow, Itachi pulled him over to where one of the ninjas was lying. "Since you're wide awake and capable to move well enough to even try and escape, we're going to carry on."

Stopping over drowsing Kirabi, Itachi called him, "Get up, we're moving."

Hissing as Itachi then pulled him to the other side, moving forward and away from the groaningly waking 'watchers', Naruto barked, "You bastard! You knew I was gonna run? How the Hell! You had no right to know that…"

"Shut up!" hissed the Uchiha, jerking Naruto more forcefully after him. "Do you want the others to hear?"

"Y-…" Opening his mouth, Naruto blinked as Itachi quickly clamped it down with his hand,

"Forget it, I'm not chancing it!" he fizzled and turned just as the others caught up.

Composing his white hair while running his fingers through it, Kirabi blinked as Itachi turned to face them while holding a squirming and muffled blond.

Rubbing his head, he asked, "Problems?"

"He won't shut up." simply said Itachi before saying further. "How many supplies have we left?"

"You could say close to none." disappointedly replied Osamu, "Everything was lost when the ship wracked. All that's left are weapons. Not even water… But of course, Akira could get us tha-…"

"Fuck you! Find it yourself!"

"How rude…."

Grabbing Itachi's wrist, Naruto finally breathed as he tore it off his mouth. "Air dam it, I need air!" he yelled, glaring at Itachi.

Rubbing his ear, Akira then grumbled as he looked down on the blond, "So…where to now, brat?"

"What?"

"Well aren't you the one leading this mission?"

"What?" another questioning mark formed on Naruto's head.

"After all, it's _your_ village's interest that you're defending, right? We're all just here along for the ride, …if you ignore the evaluation."

"_My_ village!…?… The FUC-MMHmrgh…!"

Shutting Naruto's mouth up once more, Itachi nodded to the side, "We're heading left."

* * *

Rubbing his stomach, Naruto frowned as the feeling of heaviness and pressure inside him began 'reawakening' again. _'Fuck! This is _not_ amusing anymore. I already passed out a few minutes before, isn't one time enough?'_ Shaking his head, he tried to stay focused as his vision blurred.

"Everything alright?" walking by his side, Itachi slowed down to the unevenly breathing blond's steps.

"Yesss," grumbled Naruto.

"Then why are you turning pale again?"

"I'm fine, ok?"

Succeeding a few more steps, Naruto cursed as his eyelids suddenly dropped and he fell.

Grabbing the boy before he landed face first on the ground for the second time, Itachi sighed and lowered him easily back on the ground. _'It hasn't even been half an hour since we last resumed our trail and he's still like this. Tsk, he won't be able to burden it; the Kyuubi's chakra is just too much…even for him.'_

"What's wrong now?" curious, Satoru stepped behind the kneeling Uchiha.

"We need more time. He has lost a lot of his chakra and must heal at least half way to keep going in proper steps."

"This will not please the others," whispered the _sand_-nin just as Kirabi and Akira stepped over and glared, demanding explanations.

* * *

Hissing and flinching at every step he took against the long corridor his mind made, which he was now cursing, Naruto heaved a relieved sigh when he finally made it to the opened gates of the new seal.

Walking through the bars, he smiled at his success… "Yes! I made it." …before dropping to his knees and yelling out in anger. "Damn it Kyuubi!" he growled, clenching the dirt and feeling totally exhausted and pissed off, "Why are you so damn heavy?"

"I told you, you won't be able to handle the third source, brat. Now look what's biting you back in the ass." came the approaching fox's cruel snigger.

"Oh Man, I'm already miserable, why can't you show me some compassion, you fluffy?"

Kyuubi snapped his teeth, "Because of _fluffy_, you little noodle!"

"Maa… why is the earth spinning?…" feeling just as dazed as he would be when drunk, Naruto dropped to the ground and whined even more, irritating the twitching Kyuubi to no end.

'_Dear Lord! And I am expected to spend the rest of my life with _that_!'_ Kyuubi wondered if he was sane enough by the time he agreed to that whole sealing and healing thing.

"I'm so tired…"

Seeing Naruto slip into his far deeper consciousness than the present, Kyuubi delayed a bit more of his time to stare at the lying midget before he picked him up and went back into the seal's woods.

'_Seeing as you pushed out all of your last chakra resorts when healing me, …I don't think I'll mind sharing you some of my own now. …And don't worry, I'll hold out to the rest two chakra sources for you; right now, just use mine and get accommodated to it.'_ Sending away his mental thought to the boy, Kyuubi then opened his eyes and watched as deep red-chakra run through his tails before it entered Naruto's limp body.

* * *

"AAAAH!" jumping suddenly to his feet, Naruto nearly bumped his forehead against Itachi who quickly moved to the side and glared at him, though his sudden jump and wide eyed-look sure did scare the other surrounding 'watchers', and they all jumped away from him.

"The Hell!" screamed Akira, feeling embarrassed at his sudden startle.

"You okay?" asked Osamu, warily stepping back closer.

Ignoring them all, Naruto rubbed his head and looked at his hands. _'Damn fox…that inconsiderate prick, he over did it. …He gave me so much charka that it nearly burned my ass. And that just sounds weird itself….'_

"Naruto!"

"What?" finally glaring up at the figure shaking him, Naruto locked eyes with Satoru.

"How do you feel? Are you well enough to walk?"

"Forget this shit!" losing his patience, Akira butted in, making Satoru frown at him. "Tell me what's going on!"

"…Aaa… And what _is_ supposed to be going on?" Naruto blinked, not quite getting the question.

"Are you trying to play us all for fools passing out every second like that? Or are you honestly just as weak as a firstborn?"

Naruto knitted his eyes in deeper confusion, "Ehh?"

"Goddamn it, shut your whining yap," pushing the green-head out of his way, Kirabi took his place in interrogation, "What the grass-thing is trying to say is – why do you keep passing out? Tell us what happened after the battle. It's not normal for a person to suddenly keep falling down every ten or fifteen minutes. Are you planning something against us?"

Naruto stared at him before he burst out laughing, "Oh-oh, you think that I'm pretending or something?"

"I don't see anything funny here." grumbled Akira.

"Sorrrrry…, but all that you're saying right now is just making no sense. What a Hell can I be planning on a mission that is basically made for me to proof my un-denying loyalty towards my p-…village? Heh…, you think I'm actually plotting some sort of a diversion that will need a secluded place to get you all alone and then kill you? Ha! What for? Hell, I can do _that_ right n-…"

"Alright, I think we all got the point!" cutting Naruto off, the _sand_-nin dusted his hands. "Ok, let's get g-…"

"No, I don't _get the point_!" interjected angry Kirabi, "I still want to know what is wrong with you? Whatever it is you are having can be a major influence on this mission…, and I don't feel like risking my life for a fainting diabetic."

Sighing, Naruto pulled himself to his feet. "My chakra had a slight malfunction, alright?" he spoke through easy lies. "It fractured by the time it came in contact with the Kraken and gave me hard time to adopt back. So I needed some time of rest to fix it back…. There! Will that be a satisfactory answer for you?"

Frowning, Akira crossed his arms, "No." But everyone ignored him again as Kirabi nodded,

"Fine then. Let's keep going." Looking back at the blond once more, Kirabi asked, "Or should we be aware of something more?"

"Like what?"

"Like you _fainting_ again?" teasingly smiled Osamu.

Glaring at them for laughing at him, Naruto walked pass and then turned far enough to flash them his fanged smirk, "Why ruin the surprise?"

* * *

Landing down on a branch, Naruto looked through the dark forest and shielded his stinging eyes as he spotted light ahead.

"A village." stopping on a branch higher above him, Akira knitted his eyes closer, "Looks like we made it near the boarders."

"Iie, it's not a village," said Itachi, landing by Naruto's side.

"It's a house." joyfully proclaimed Osamu. "And I think I can smell something delicious baking there."

Looking up at the shining stars that gave a slight sting to his vision, Naruto guessed the time might be between 2 to 3 am. _'And the person in there sure is taking his time before sleep.'_ "Well, anyways, since I'm now your unbreakable leader, I say: that's where we'll begin our search for that stup-…that is, pretty rosebush."

"What do you mean _we_?" Akira was fast to show his dissatisfaction at the proclamation. "There is no 'we'."

"Alright! _I_! Geez, play'nough, already. Tch, can't even say anything descent anymore." Jumping from the tree, Naruto landed on the ground and began walking towards the secluded house.

Stepping on the porch, Naruto knocked on the door.

There was no reply.

Frowning, Naruto knocked some more, however this time, the door ajar against his knocking and crack open. _'Talk about creepy.'_

"Hello?" peeking his head inside, Naruto placed his hand against the door-frame and suddenly parted his fingers as a kunai landed right between them.

"Shit!" pushing away from the door, he dropped to the ground as more kunais were thrown fast after him from different directions.

"Fuck, the house's a trap." Grabbing out his large sword, Kirabi dodged a few of the kunais and stepped back as more began advancing.

"Trap?" squeaked Naruto, "Trap for what?"

"The nomads," grabbing Naruto by the collar, Itachi quickly pulled him inside the house as the others followed and jumped inside.

Slamming the doors shut, Kirabi dropped a special blockage log strapped to it and sealed the entrance, hearing the last of the kunais embedded against the door before everything went calm.

Finding the lightened candles on a long table, Satoru quickly put them out. As the house went black in darkness and everyone went silent except the light rustling through trees outside, the nins dropped under the windows and waited for their unseen enemies next move.

Shallow breathing suddenly made Naruto's ears twitched. Turning around, he crawled away from under the window and over to the middle of the floor. Pressing his ear to the floor, he frowned as the breathing suddenly stilled.

"What is it?" asked Kirabi.

Smelling the air, Naruto opened his eyes, "A woman." As soon as those words left his mouth, everyone heard a gasp of startle under-floor and some quick movements.

Ripping the carpet from covering the exposed basement door, Naruto grabbed the round handle and ripped the ground-door open.

Screams filled the house as he jumped into the dark basement and spotted a covering woman long over her age with something in her hand. "…P-please…d-don't hurt me!" she cried and tossed the held bag in her hands at his feet, "H-here, take it! It's all I have left! I swear! Just please! Have mercy!"

Naruto blinked and picked up a bag of what sounded like a clatter of money.

"Oh." realizing quickly what's going on, Naruto step closer to the cornered woman and kneeled in front of her. "Whow, hey…no, calm down. I'm not your enemy." he tried to soothe her as he placed his hands on her shaking shoulders.

"Then who…who are you? Wh-what do you need?"

Kneeling over the basement's entrance, Itachi peered inside. "Satoru, hand me a candle."

Grabbing one of the burned down candles from the table, the _sand_-nin handed it to Itachi and watched through the dark as he jumped into the basement.

Lightning the candle, Itachi stepped behind Naruto, who hissed at the light and covered his eyes close, and looked down at the eighty-year old woman clenching Naruto's forearms.

Looking up at the new comer under the candle's light, the woman asked fearfully. "Who are you all?"

"We're shinobi of the five nations," said Itachi, placing the candle to the side and further away from Naruto's vision, "We have not come here to bring harm. You have nothing to worry about."

"Ou…thank god," breathing a sigh of relief, the woman calmed down and looked over at the blond teen she had still in her grip.

"Granny…, we are sorry to intrude in your house like that, but we were caught off guard. Someone had attacked us from outside the house right before we could receive an answer to the knock."

Suddenly there was a loud slam against the entrance and the doors slammed down as men with pitchforks and scythes barged rushing in.

Kirabi growled as he slammed his fist into the first man, easily knocking him back through the entrance, who was quickly followed by another and another as Satoru, Akira and Osamu disarmed them all.

Hearing loud clatter and metal scrapings up the floor, the old-woman shook her head and yelled out, "No, stop it! Those are not them!"

One of the still standing men ready to hit Kirabi with a shovel blinked with a 'huh' before getting a brutal punch to the face from the overexcited dark-skinned.

"Hell yeah!"

"Damn it, I can't see a thing! Who did we kill? Someone, turn on the freaking lights!" shouted Akira.

Lightening up a candle, Osamu looked down and blinked at a bunch of poorly dressed and knocked out citizens lying sprawled all around the floor. "Damn it, you idiots! We just knocked out a bunch of innocent citizen," barked Osamu.

"I couldn't tell," rubbing his head sheepishly, Kirabi looked behind him as the two _leaf_-nins climbed out of the basement while helping out an elderly woman.

"Nori-chan!" seeing the dazed old man, still with a shovel in his one hand, lying on the floor, the woman quickly rushed to his side.

Struggling to focus his eyes straight, the old-man looked around before finding his wife, "M-…Miu…-chan…, that you?"

"Yes. Oh we made a terrible mistake, Nori-chan. These people are not the ones from the Hidden Snow."

Naruto's head titled to the side, "Eh? Snow?"

"Aa…please forgive me…" sitting up with the help of the woman, the barely bold old-man offered an apologetic smile. "I mistook you for someone else."

Connecting the dots and the part of the old-woman in them, Naruto suddenly raised his voice, "Oi! What a Hell were you thinking leaving old grandma all alone and abandoned in the opening like that? She could have been killed or taken hostage, were it your so called _snowman_-enemy."

"I'm sorry…" The old-man bowed his head in shame while the old-woman looked his way and smiled sweetly, "Oh don't blame Nori-chan for that, boy-chan. It was my idea actually."

Naruto blinked in outrage, "What? Sacrifice yourself as _bait_?"

"Yes. Furthermore, I'm old and can't travel far, so simply leaving my house every time the alarm breaks is something I cannot manage to do fast enough; so why bother? And besides, I was already prepared for their encounter. See?" She smiled as she pointed at the bag of money still in Naruto's hand.

The other five nins sweat-dropped.

"Ah!" dropping the bag onto the table, Naruto scratched his head as he recalled old-grandma's words. _'They seriously thought that a bag of thirty or less coins would buy them their life from the brutality that some of the snow-shinobi possess?'_ he thought, recalling times when he had to travel to the Snow Country. "God, how old can one be to fall so far behind the modern time-…OWw!"

Smacking him on the back of his head, Itachi warned silently, "Show some respect."

"Oh dear me."

Looking back at the old pair, Osamu's eyebrows shot up as the old man found his broken glasses shattered on the ground.

Feeling a certain _rock_-nin's glare snap to his direction, Kirabi chuckled. "Sorry about that! Dam, I thought I heard something cracking there."

"You brutal muscle-bag, you disabled the old gramps off his vision!" accusingly pointed Naruto.

"Hey-hey! It wasn't my fault! I couldn't see right then, alright?"

* * *

As the six shinobi tended to the wounded, everyone of the nation was slightly pleased that Akira actually possessed great healing abilities as he healed any opened wounds on the poor citizens, and, for once, he was staying very quiet.

After some time of acquaintance and more apologies, the old woman called everyone to the long table for early breakfast.

Placing nice hot meals in front of her guests, Miu kept darting wondering glanced towards Naruto, wondering why the boy kept his eyes closed all the time.

"Thanks Miu-san, it smells real great! I could even smell your delicious food miles away. However do you manage to make everything so perfect?" happily praised Osamu as a sliced meat with potatoes, gravy and salad was placed in front of him.

"Oh, it's nothing to it Osamu-chan. Eat as much as you like. There is more to go with it after you're done."

"Yeah, actually that smell was what lured us to your house in the first place," joining in as of politeness, Naruto joked as the other old and healed men by the table chuckled at that.

Though from the side, it might have looked rather strange and awkward, seeing about fifteen bandaged and black-eyed men, who basically knocked down everything around the house but their supposed enemies with rustic farm-instruments, sitting behind the table and having a pleasant meal with the six ninjas from the nation, who on their part had beaten every one of the unfortunate citizens leaving the house unharmed.

"By the way, where have you gotten so many ninja tools? Since you're citizens, it's rather odd seeing you proficient at wielding such tremendous tool as a kunai." asked Satoru suspicious.

"We collected them," replied Nori, "After every time we were forced to encounter shinobi from the Snow, we have collected every lost kunai and practiced in wielding them. That was all we could do to survive so long. For you see, it's rather hard to live so far away from the nation countries and strive for the living; especially when you're bordered so close to Snow.

The Hidden Snow has taken our weakness to their advantage. They plan to conquer our lands and join them together with their own. The only thing delaying their progress is the hard adoption and the dead lands that separate us from the Snow Country."

"That makes no sense." suddenly said Naruto, "Why would it suddenly need more lands? Surely Snow had its problems but is has always been a peaceful and beautiful land ever since the prin-…"

"Which planet have you descended from, brat?" jokily chuckled Kirabi, making Naruto think of an answer among the lines of 'wouldn't you like to know'.

"The lands of the Snow are well known for _anything_ but peace, Naruto-kun." continuing where Kirabi left off, Osamu sipped a drink from his cup. "There's disorder just as in their government as it is in the weather itself."

Naruto's eyebrow rose up. "Disorder? Government? What? Last time I've been there, it was governed by princess Koyuki. And what do you mean weather? Ever since her era began, the land of Snow nearly turned into the second path to become the land of Spring."

Everyone looked at Naruto like he was indeed from another world…or better yet, simply out of his mind.

"Are you sick in the brain?" frowned Akira, "Princess Koyuki's era ended without even starting. By the time she ran and abandoned the land of the Snow, she has never been seen ever since."

Naruto's eyes snapped opened, "What!"

"Oh My God!" screaming, Miu nearly fell of her chair as the boy finally revealed his blooded eyes to them.

"Crap!" cursing himself, Naruto turned them his back and tore off a piece of fabric from his sash, tying it around his eyes. "Sorry about that," rubbing his neck uncomfortably, he turned back in his chair and reached for a glass of warm tea.

"My dear Naruto-chan. Are you alright?" holding a hand over her heart, Miu stared at him with frightened eyes.

"Yeah. I'm sorry granny. I didn't want you to see that. Let's just drop it for now, ok?"

"If you insist." reluctantly nodded the old woman and grasped her husband's hand.

"Anyways," glaring at people who disturbed him, Akira continued on, "Some rumors say that she has been seen outside the borders near the Fire Country, but later it turned out that it was just an actress very similar to her."

Naruto spluttered his drink onto Kirabi. Ignoring the big guy's yells of outrage and Osamu's finger pointed laughter, Naruto gapped at Akira. "Are you telling me that they fell for her acting?"

Akira looked at him confused, "What acting?"

Sighing in hopelessness, Naruto shook his head, "Dha… Never mind."

Covering his face behind his bangs, Naruto drank in silence, feeling everyone now looking at him very strangely and weirdly. _'God, I'm an idiot. What a Hell was I saying? Of course they'll have no idea what I'm blabbing about. I'm not from their world, dam it! And blasted Koyuki, what have you done?'_

Finally taking his calculating look away from the blushing blond, Satoru looked at the heads of the house. "We were talking about the Snow shinobi." he reminded, trying to change the atmosphere. "Mind you telling me why have you never sent out for help to the neighboring countries? Surely someone could have helped."

'_Yeah right…, like who?'_ snorted Akira and Kirabi, _'Everyone's too busy to strive themselves through constant war that's going around. Dam that Konoha! Why won't it surrender when needed?'_

"We fear the waters…" whisperingly said Miu.

"Why's that?"

"Rumors has it, that a beast descends within them," silently said one of the black-eyed men by the table, his whispered words made them sound like taboo.

Naruto concealed a snigger while the others exchanged looks. "You're right," smiled Naruto, "Those were just rumors." feeling the 'watchers' shoot him quick looks, Naruto shrugged in thought, even though they could hear him, _'There is no need to make them fear more.'_ "After all, we crossed the ocean. And as you can see, everyone's save and sound." At that he received five shots of equal glares.

"But so many men had died. We had sent out our people for help, but they never made it back." sad, the woman bowed her head. "If it wasn't the monster… Where are they then?"

Rubbing his head, Naruto chuckled uneasily as his 'helpful' 'watchers' also arched their brows, expecting him answer to that. "The ocean is wide. It could have taken them by the waves…" not a very comforting thing to say, but it felt better than saying a monster ate them.

Smirking, Akira shook his head, "You know, sooner or later someone surely is going to wonder about the rottenness of that…thing. The smell will lead them to it." Even though the citizens had no idea what he meant by that, the shinobi understood that he was talking about the remaining bloody parts of the exploded Kraken which current location was somewhere near this island's coast.

"You're not helping," hissed Naruto through his teeth.

Feeling no better by anything the ninjas were trying to say, the old woman smiled and waved them off, "Oh don't worry about us dears. We've been through war with Hidden Snow countless times. And let's just say, as our times progressed we became no weaker than they are." The older guys cheered for that and picked up their cups.

Naruto frowned in pity, _'What a sad way of shattered hope.'_

"Okay, no more of these sad tales." Clapping her hands, the woman looked at each of her guests with deeply curious eyes. "Please tell us what brings you this far? The shinobi of the nation. My…it sounds so thrilling."

Rubbing his neck, Naruto spoke up with an uncomfortable grin, seeing that none else seemed to do it too soon anyway, _'Curse them all!'_ "Well, we're in the middle of a mission of sorts, …I guess."

Watching the blond, Itachi found it rather strange to see the boy relate to other people thus friendly, while back in the village it was disorder and chaos all over. _'What secrets lie between him and the village?'_

"Really, mind I interrogate further?" hearing little of things through her years, the woman hopped Naruto could tell her more.

Naruto smiled, "Actually, it was something I was going to do now." receiving looks of confusion, Naruto said, "I wanted to ask you if you know anything about the…something-something rose?"

Kirabi, Osamu and Akira exchange arched-brow glances while Itachi rolled his eyes and tried not to palm his face; of course he would forget what he was supposed to look for seeing that it was something he had no interest in doing. No doubt the other shinobi will take that to their advantage, seeing as the ignorance the boy has towards his village.

"_The Rose of Tani_," silently hissed Itachi through his teeth.

Catching that, Naruto beamed, "Ah yes, some kind a missing rose of Tani."

The other shinobis' attention perked on as the citizens exchanged mysterious glances.

Looking back at the confused men, Miu said, "Yes, we know of the rose. It has once belonged to our country…. Always bringing shine for the lands and seen on the top of the highest of mountains. Hm, why I talk in plural? It's because of its strange ways to disappear and appear in different places at different times. This far it has always been known as a blessing symbol to the Valley Country… well, until years passed and Snow-shinobi came."

"Are you saying the Snow took it?" asked Osamu.

"We don't really know, because it could have gone missing from our lands on its own, but that has never happened through hundreds of years, which just makes it silly if it did right then," thoughtfully said Nori.

"That rose was…special," remembering her old days when the lands around them were green and filled with life, the old-woman seemed reluctant to tell more as she instead smiled at her guests. "But it is an honor that the nation has come looking for it. I do hope that you find it…, for the luck it will bring to your country." _'As it has once brought to us.'_

The spoken words made Naruto's heart contract and his hand tightened around the cup of tea. _'Did Minato want me to steal that rose from these innocent people? Or did he already know that it has been stolen and wanted me to take advantage of the situation and retreat it back to Konoha from the Snow? Though seeing the way Satoru and Kirabi knew nothing of Valley's poor misfortune wouldn't it make sense that Konoha had no idea of it either?  
Bha! The hell with all this! Why am I even taking so much thought into it? It's not like I should care! My mission is to retreat that plant back to the village of Konoha, right? And if I do so, the nation will leave me and Gaara alone and we'll be finally free, right? And that should be all…RIGHT!'_ partly convinced in the matter, Naruto still felt like he was being torn on the inside. _'But…'_ Pulling his lips in a thin line, he turned back to the old-woman and her sadly smiling husband. _'…the problem is…,'_ gripping his cup tighter, Naruto didn't hear it crack as his expression fell into one of deep sorrow as the woman before them forced herself to fake smiles and confidence of peaceful nature. Taking the rose from these people would mean…

Bowing his head, Naruto buried his fingers in his hair. _'…I can't do it.'_

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_**è**__ Thank ya:_

XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX XDD

Whiteinu1 ;D

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Yoko. no. unmei XDD

narubby23 XDD

PirateCaptainBo XDD

!


	31. Chapter 31

'_**Chapter 31'**_

* * *

Holding the ropes loosely between his fingers, Naruto swayed his legs lazily back and forth, hearing and yet not paying any mind to the sounds the ropes made as they rubbed against the thick branch that held an old wooden swing he was sitting on.

"… _I want you to travel through the dark seas and find the missing rose … Please, it is important …"_

"_What's so important about it?"_

"_It doesn't matter. You must bring it back to the village."_

"… _That rose was…special … But it is an honor that the nation has come looking for it … I do hope that you find it … for the luck it will bring to your country…"_

"Tch, what luck," leaning his head against his elbow, Naruto recalled the last words he spoke with Minato and the old-granny Miu. _'This is wrong… I can't just take that plant away from her…it means so much. …But the nation… Gaara…'_ sighing, Naruto placed his feet onto the ground and stopped his swings just as the doors to the house went open.

"You sure seem deep in despair over there, Naruto-chan," Coming out from the backdoor of her house, carrying a big basket of clean laundry, Miu looked at the sitting boy on her old backyard swing and her eyes softened, "Something wrong?"

Shaking his head, Naruto succeeded a fake pout. "I don't like early mornings."

Chuckling at that, the old-woman hung out white sheets on long tree branches. "It's funny that you say it. You didn't get any sleep at all from the late last night."

Rubbing his neck, Naruto gave her a grin and shrugged, "Yeah well, you know…"

Smiling, Miu shook her head and grabbed her basket. Deciding to leave the boy to his own little privacy, Miu called after herself, "Come have something to eat. You and your friends are going to depart soon. And I can't have you going anywhere with empty stomachs now, can I?" just when she got to the door did Naruto's next words make her freeze,

"I'll bring it back."

"Excuse me?" turning around, Miu felt an odd shivers go down her spine as the teen's expression showed nothing other than a strong promise to his steel words.

"I promise." kicked his feet against the ground, Naruto turned his head to the side and let himself be taken by the swing. "…I promise I'll bring it back…"

Miu's eyes widened as small tears gathered under her wrinkled eye corners and her basket dropped to the ground. She knew what he was talking about. And as doubtful as it could've been taken, she still believed in his words.

* * *

Watching the old-woman enter back into the house, Kirabi and the rest could not miss the shocked look she wore as she placed her emptied basket into the corner and quickly disappeared into the kitchen.

Frowning, the _water_-nin stood up and peeked into the kitchen. The woman was whispering something to her husband in overly exited voice as the man before her gave a hope-filled smile in reassurance and hugged her.

Meeting eyes with Kirabi and Osamu, Akira grit out, "What a hell did the brat say to her?"

* * *

Swaying back and forth, Naruto couldn't care to feel despair as a small smile adored his face after seeing that look on the old-grandma's face. _'Her happiness revealed in shock stillness.'_

Suddenly his calm was forcefully rip out as someone grabbed his wrist and pushed him against the tree.

Placing a hand by the blond's head, Itachi glared as he leant at eyelevel with him.

"What do think you are doing?"

Rubbing his head that got knocked against the tree, Naruto snapped back, "Isn't it what I'm supposed to be asking you right now?"

"Have you forgotten your mission?" not fazed by the comeback, Itachi's fists clenched as he continued onwards, "Why did you promised that woman the rose?"

"Where you eavesdropping on us?"

"Have you realized what you've just done?"

"Yes! I made an eighty-five-year old woman very happy today. The likes of you can never understand this, so mind your own business." Smacking the Uchiha's hand away from blocking his side, Naruto went to pass him but Itachi grabbed his elbows and forced him back against the tree.

"My business is to keep you in check! Do you wish to sell your freedom to other lands for people you hardly even know? This is not why you're here for."

'_Why do you even care?'_ "No! But this is not why you're here for either." enraged, Naruto retorted back, "You're just a 'watcher'. You cannot interfere in my way and change my decisions. That's what your mission is, so go _by_ it."

Feeling successful in shutting the Uchiha up, Naruto still flinched as Itachi's hands tightened their grip around his elbows, and he whispered. "That's true. I am not allowed to intrude in your way. …However, watcher or not, do not forget that here I'm your comrade as well. And as a comrade I am warning you of the consequences that your foolish decisions will cause. That's the least I am allowed to do for the village and…you and your brother's sake."

A little bit startled at the words literally pronounced by the ever coldblooded Uchiha, Naruto bit his lip and lowered his head, "Gaara will understand. In any case, it is _I_ who will be the one to go, not him."

"Are you seriously willing to give up your life like that?"

Twitching at the words, Naruto frowned, "My life was never my own, it always _belonged_. …I'm accustomed."

Loosening his frown, Itachi let the blond go and watched as he sank within his own mind before slumping tiredly against the tree. _'Why is he going into such lengths for mere strangers he hardly even knows?'_

"The Hell's going on here?"

Looking to his right, Itachi's stone-expression went back as the rest of the nins came out and surrounded them. "We're ready to head out." was all they got as an answer.

* * *

Stopping before the shore of wide, mud-covered, mystified 'puddle' called sea, which bordered the Valley Country from the Swamp Country, the watchers looked over to both sides in hopes of finding boats, but came empty handed.

"No choice. We'll have to cross it by foot." said Satoru, making Osamu scrunch his face in distaste,

"Do we have to?"

Shrugging, Naruto carefully placed his foot onto the dirty water and probed the balance against it. _'Ok…this looks safe enough.'_ Standing fully atop of it, he started walking forward with others following behind.

As they neared closer to the other land leaving all traces of Valley behind the mist, all took notice in the way the sea's water began to thicken in mass and dirt. And the closer they came to the Swamp Country's lands, the harder it became to keep in balance as their feet constantly dipped and sunk into the thick water.

"God, this is depressing," pulling his foot out, Osamu struggled through the muddy-sea as the next steps made him sink till his knees.

"It'll be over soon," calmed Satoru, brushing sweat from his forehead as the necessity to keep his chakra within the balance of the mud intensified, forcing him and the rest to use more chakra so as to prevent themselves from getting pulled down and under. "I can see the land through fog, it ain't far, but its shore is covered in swamp."

"Great," sardonically commented Akira, cursing as his next step sunk his foot till his thigh.

From the side, Naruto couldn't help but laugh at them, "I don't know, I think it's kind a fun." By using Kyuubi's given chakra it came to him much easier to walk through the muddy-sea, without sinking further than his ankles.

"Shut up brat!" behind them growled Kirabi whose big mass wasn't helping much as it pushed him down till his very middle.

After nearly three full hours, the group finally managed to drag themselves to the shore and breathe out their exhaustion.

Coming beside the blond, Itachi looked around the foggy land that held nothing other than wet trees covered in mud and moss under the showing roots and long seaweeds hanging from the tops.

"I wonder if there are alligators here," catching his breath, Osamu joined the two _leaf_-nins.

"It shouldn't be of surprise if there were," said Akira.

"Let's go," finishing their useless conversation before it even started, Kirabi pushed everyone on.

* * *

Once more they found themselves stopping before something of an interest and abnormality. A huge steep wall covered in dead roots, weeds and moist rocks stretched endlessly from left to right just as in unseen height and thickness. The only possible way through it was revealed within a small hole that cracked at the bottom of the gigantic rock-wall.

"Is this a joke?" glared Akira, looking into the deep darkness of the opening.

Bending down, Naruto examined the hole with his fingers and said, "It's wide enough for a person to squeeze through. Even you, muscle-bag, if you take in a deep breath that is."

"You little-…"

"Are you kidding me?" frowned Osamu, "I'm not going in there. Who knows what is lurking in that hole. Besides, it's too dark and narrow, do you expect me to crawl all the way through it without knowing where it stops or even if it has an exit!"

"Tch! Well aren't you just a perfect example of an elite Anbu," criticized Naruto.

"Don't get me that crap!" Osamu contradicted, despite the shake of his voice, "Anbu are human too, and we have our flaws as well. This just happens to be one of them right now."

"I hope it's not phobia what you're trying to emphasize."

At Osamu's silence, Naruto scratched his neck sheepishly. "Ah… Well okay then."

"Tch…can't we climb the stupid wall or something?"

"No, the walls are too slippery." said Itachi.

Kirabi grinned, "Guess you're out of luck, huh…"

"Screw you!"

Sighing, Naruto pulled his blindfold off and grabbed fidgeting Osamu's hand. "Alright, here, you can hold onto my hand while we're in. And if it helps, close your eyes and imagine butterflies or whatever while I lead you through."

"Ah brilliant! That'll surely help, doctor-san," Akira rolled his eyes.

"Shut the hell up, at least I'm _trying_ to help." Pulling Osamu with him to his knees, Naruto slipped into the hole and tugged the reluctant _rock_-nin with.

Shaking his head, Itachi went after followed by Satoru, glaring Akira and finally Kirabi.

"Shit, I can't see squat."

"How long have we been crawling already?"

"An hour?"

"Nah…it's just been five minutes."

"I think we're going in circles? Let's turn back."

"Holy crap! I think something just touched me!"

"Calm down, Erizawa. It was me."

"God, are we _anywhere_ yet?"

"I think there's a light ahead."

"Jesus fucking finally."

"Ah, crap!"

"What is it?"

"I think I'm stuck."

"What!" everyone yelled in union.

"Are you shitting me, Naruto! What a Hell! Get unstuck, now!" Osamu began panicking.

"Stop yelling in my ear, Osamu! I'm only kidding, geez. And give me space." Grabbing onto the bend rims, Naruto crawled out of the narrow passage and pulled the gasping sweaty Erizawa with him. Even though they were still within the beginning of the giant rock-wall, there they could at least stand up and see what they had around.

Pulling himself up, Itachi made room for the other three and walked over to one of the flaming torches that were spread everywhere around the wide space that resembled a huge cave.

Breathing deep inhales and slow exhales, Osamu kept constantly looking around. The newly revealed space was stretching a wide tunnel further up front, leaving the narrow tunnel that led them there at the back.

Frowning at the small passage they just crawled out of, Kirabi voiced out his disturbance, "There's something not quite right about this."

"Aa…the hole looks as if it's been dug out in haste. As if someone's been trying to get out." agreed Akira.

"Or away from something," added Satoru. "Look here." he said, pointing down at the scratched lines by the small hole's entry and parts of what could be distinguished as broken and torn off nails; but what was really interesting was that along with broken human nails, there lay something much more vicious and sharper.

Picking up a five inch long nail, or more likely to be called a claw, the watchers exchanged unnerved looks.

Sounds of something rustling and hissing abruptly made Naruto's head snap to the cave's other side; the others caught the sound too and Osamu began panicking again,

"What was that!"

"Don't know. But either way we can't just stand here and wait for whatever it is to come and get us." Tugging Osamu with, Naruto turned back as the _rock_-nin didn't budge.

"S-so it's better to let it find us sooner? Forget it, I'm not going there!"

"Relax. We're shinobi, right. If what we can beat it. Anyway, I'm sure it was probably just a rat or wind blowing through. So let's go already." Putting force on the pull, Naruto began dragging protesting Erizawa with him again.

Grabbing a torch, Itachi and the others went after them.

* * *

Walking down the wide hall and ignoring any smaller ones on the sides that echoed sounds of unresolved awareness, the six men gang were finally led in a round room that enlightening the entry of nine small paths, much darker than pitch black.

Crossing his arms, Akira cocked a hip. "So? What now?"

"Chose a path obviously." Satoru rolled his eyes.

"Which one?"

"That's easy. Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, who's the champion of us-…"

"Cut this bullshit out! Just pick one already." growled impatient Kirabi.

"Urgh, fine! That one," pointing to the sixth from the left, Naruto went in.

As the others entered all stopped and blinked as the torch Itachi was carrying suddenly faded out, leaving them all in the dark.

Frowning, Itachi dropped the useless torch down and went back to the entry to get another one, but as he entered back again, that torch faded away as well.

Glaring at the object, Itachi tried to lighten it through jutsu but just when everyone thought that would work, the torchlight faded off again.

"Tch." dropping the torch down, Itachi walked out followed by the others.

'_Weird.'_

"Ok, so not that path then." rubbing his neck, Naruto nodded towards the neighboring one, "Let's try the other one."

Grabbing the torch again, Itachi entered in and hissed as the same thing happened for the third time. _'The Hell with this!'_ throwing it away, he went back.

But just as they turned to leave and choose another path which could keep the light on, they all froze. A dark layout of a tall figure was standing in the entry, blocking its way with its massive built.

The thing or creature was more than two meters tall. Its skin, covered in black shell-like-armor, was reflecting the light of the torches behind the back. Lean, sharp edges stuck out in every joint. A long sharpened tail flickered behind as its bent feet claws tapped the sandy ground. Its hands were stretched on its sides, flexing long claws from four fingers. Its face was hard to extinguish though, for it had no eyes except for pointed fangs for teeth and ears that sharpened with three points up.

"…oh my god…" Erizawa lost his voice.

The creature's ears suddenly twitched and it let out a loud hissing cry that tore through the nins ears. Before long, it charged right at them.

Jumping over it, the six nins turned around and quickly ducked down as the creature's tail flickered without predicament and outstretched in length as it tore right at them.

Grabbing his sword, Kirabi collided it with the tail and gasped as the tail suddenly entwined around his sword without wounding itself and ripped it off of his hands.

Throwing the nasty blade back at them, the creature hissed and suddenly tackled Kirabi to the ground, but just as its claws pierced into the shinobi's stomach, the _lightning_-nin disappeared as the real Kirabi appeared from the shadows.

Crying in rage, the creature followed his move as it disappeared as well and appeared in front of the built-man.

Kirabi ducked as it slashed its clawed hand over his head and slammed it against the rocked wall. Rocks crashed and tumbled from the force and fell onto him.

Appearing behind them, Satoru summoned his power and shot wind blades after the creature's feet. The sharp chakra tore through the creature's skin, slashing its feet to near half.

The beast cried out in pain and stumbled off balance…but not enough to go down.

"Shit!" grabbing a kunai, Satoru threw it at the beast. The kunai stabbed in the creature's middle and exploded.

As it was finally down, Osamu quickly made a set of hand signs and the cliffs hanging above the ceiling cracked before they fall down on it.

Yet still, it seemed not enough as the creature suddenly forced itself out of the rocks and jumped up on the dark ceiling.

Breaking through the rocks as well, Kirabi looked around, "Where is it?"

"Up _there_." screamed Akira and threw dozens of green chakra embedded shurikens onto the ceiling in every direction. One of them struck the beast and it cried before scratching through the ceiling and landing behind Itachi and Naruto.

Quickly turning around, Itachi pulled out his katana and clashed it with the creature's claws. Jumping away, he pulled his left arm close to his mouth and shot a fire-ball at the screaming monster.

The beast reared back a bit, but the fire seemed effortless in harming its skin. Crying in rage, the creature attacked Itachi repeated bases, until it found the strategy useless as its claws were all repelled by the blade. Roaring out in anger, it abruptly jumped over him and flicked its tail, kicking Itachi's katana away.

Dodging the sharp tail from nearly embedding in his throat, Itachi jumped out of the way just as Naruto came behind him with the _Rasengan_.

The creature yelled as the ball of chakra suddenly rammed into it and forced him against the wall.

Creating dust on end, Naruto pulled his hand away and tried to feel through the life yet gasped as a hand suddenly shout out and smacked him across the face. Skidding to the other five nins, Naruto gapped, "That blow should have taken him out."

Ripping itself from the dint of the wall, the beast stretched its neck and shrieked in outrage.

"Bastard!" pissed, Naruto stood up and outstretching his left hand, gathering enough of Kyuubi's chakra for the 'demon-line'…and shot it out.

The beast was struck by thousand folds of chakra that blasted right into its face and forced it viciously through the hard wall separating the other paths from the presented.

BOOOOOOOOOOOMMM! The whole cave shook from the blast, however it was nowhere near from crumbling down.

Advancing a few steps forward, Naruto peered through the darkness.

"Is it dead?" lowering his voice, asked Osamu.

When the final drops of rocks rolled down and cleared the dust off, leaving everything to the silent expectation, Naruto's eyes went wide. "Impossible."

The creature's hand that was sticking from the huge rock pile suddenly bent and moved, trying to pull itself out.

For the others those words were all that was needed to understand what was going on, seeing that neither could sense and see the creature's presence even when it was in their faces, more so it felt like looking at a dead being.

Naruto was ready to panic, "Why won't it _die_!"

The rocks suddenly exploded as the creature shot out from them with a piercing cry.

"Fuck." On instinct all attacked at once.  
The rest when in synchrony as Naruto and Itachi both made a jutsu of fire and wind and shot them at the crying beast. The jutsus interacted and blasted on the creature with grand force as the wind intensified the fire's strength.  
Next came Kirabi with the lightning jutsu and Akira with the water, followed by Satoru and Osamu's earth jutsu, who spread the earth and trapped the monster within twenty meters of the underground.

Everything finally fell in silence…

Breathing out and breathing in, all six stilled their breaths for a few moments before grinning in delight… which however was shortly lived, as familiar scratching sounds echoed closely to the entrance hall followed by piercing cries similar to the beast they just took out.

More of them were approaching fast.

Instincts to survive overcame everyone. Taking a step back, none waivered as all suddenly turned tail and began running inside the dark passage.  
If it were this hard to take out just one of those creatures how could they possible take out a hundred more? So they ran.

Racing through the pitch black, the others trusted Naruto's sight and followed his scent, since he was basically their only help in the dark now.

Naruto gasped as he suddenly saw a huge hole appearing in front of them. _'We can't jump that!'_ "STOP!" he shouted and stopped just by the edge of the hole with the rest nearly running into his back.

"Fuck! What do you mean stop! We can't fucking stop!" shouted Akira, looking behind him as the scratching noises from the beasts' neared.

"What's the fucking hold up!" screeched Erizawa.

"Damn brat, move!" yelled Kirabi.

"There's a hole in front of me!" shouted Naruto, hoping that'll get through to them.

"Shit!"

"Man, what now!"

"Can't we jump it?" bickered Akira.

"No. I don't see the other edge. And there is no bottom there," said Naruto.

"Oh God! We're gonna die!" shrieked Osamu.

"Shut the hell up!"

"Don't shout at me!"

"Guys! Calm the fuck down!" yelled Satoru.

Looking from the dark hallway, Itachi turned to the bickering idiots and decided to take measures into his own hands, and by that meant he suddenly pushed them all into the hole and jumped after.

"Holy Fuck! Who pushed me!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHhh!" everyone screamed as they all went down.

The hard-skinned creatures stopped by the edge and hissed and cried and shrieked as their prey escaped their reach by mere seconds.

* * *

It seemed like falling into eternity, until Naruto spotted rushing movements underneath them. _'Water?'_ Gasping, Naruto quickly brought his hands in front of him and crushed head first into the water, followed by five more splashes from the watchers.

Coming to the surface, he flinched as a current suddenly grabbed hold of him and he was pulled back under the running water. Tearing throughout the rushing water, Naruto gasped as he suddenly collided with the bottom rocks and his shoulder snapped.

Only for a minute he felt himself lose consciousness until someone grabbed him and pulled him out from the stream. Coughing, he allowed the person to drag him over to a waterside and help him with his breathing.

"Are you alright?" asked Itachi.

Wheezing, Naruto rasped out, "…a-aa…"

Sighing, Itachi dropped himself onto the ground and caught his own breath. By luck he managed to escape the current unharmed, yet while he lost the others, he found Naruto, and that was all that he needed; he was his responsibility after all, nothing else… Frowning at his own choice of thoughts, Itachi shook his head and looked over at the blond's strangely angled shoulder.

Trying to catch his breath, Naruto abruptly jumped as Itachi grabbed his arm and placed his other hand against his hurting shoulder. "Stay still," was all the Uchiha said before he pulled on the blond's arm and snapped the dislocated shoulder back in its place.

'_AAH! Shit! Couldn't he warn me first!'_ Groaning in stinging pain, Naruto dropped his head back and whispered a strained, "…thanks…"

Itachi ignored the hatful add the boy used in that 'thanks' and just nodded.

Sounds of water's uneven splashing suddenly caught their attention. Raising to their feet, both prepared for an attack until the river rose up and not a moment later, the other four shinobi jumped out of it and landed in fort of the two _leafs_.

Dispelling the jutsu from the water, Akira turned to Osamu as he shakily sneezed out, "Please. Let's just get out of here already."

* * *

"_Rasengan!_" shouting out for an effect, Naruto blasted throughout the thick stoned wall and momentarily hissed as daylight hit him.

All five-nins lidded their eyes and inwardly sighed, glad that after all those long hours of dead-ends and dark paths that lead them in countless circles, they finally managed to find and 'force' themselves out into the exit.

* * *

"The Demon Country is just behind this mountain. We should set camp here and rest for now before we head out again." Agreeing with Satoru's suggestion, everyone settled in.

Behind the Demon Country rested a long sailing way that crossed their path from the Snow Country – their destined point.

Sighing, Naruto plopped underneath the tree and scowled as Itachi sat beside him.

"A little privacy, if you will."

The Uchiha spared him a glance before he closed his eyes and rested against the stem. "You lost that privilege the moment you tried to escape."

Shooting him a mental dagger, Naruto huffed and rose up to sit somewhere else, but blinked and cursed as he was suddenly jerked back to the ground by his clothes.

"What a?" turning around to feel what caught his shirt, Naruto grit his teeth as his hand came in contact with a kunai that was pinning the edge of his shirt down.

"Going somewhere?" opening one eye, Itachi looked at the fuming blond.

"I hate you." growled Naruto.

"I can tell," simply said Itachi.

"Bastard!"

"Simpleton!"

"GHA!"

* * *

It was past nighttime until the six shinobi overcame the mountain bordering the Demon Country.

Pushing himself up the final scale, Naruto stood up and blinked his eyes, unable to fully make out the picture through the dark night since the moon was up and above preventing him from seeing fully.

Stepping behind him, the watchers absorbed the valley of cliffs that could be distinguished as the Demon Country; for it held nothing other than dead trees and dry grounds made that steep cliffs similar to canyons. Gazing downwards from the high mountain that's other side was steep and strangely flat, they could see nothing but white fog covering the view from that what's below.

"Should we try to go down?" asked Osamu.

Kicking a rock from the edge, everyone listened as it fell but didn't reach the bottom close enough for even Naruto to hear.

"Seems that we'll have to jump it through."

Looking at the blond with arched brown, Kirabi turned to measure the distance to the first cliff. "And how do you plan to do that?"

Bending slightly in his knees, Naruto suddenly took off and ran pass them; with a final push near the edge, he jumped over a hundred meter distance and landed onto the destined cliff.

Turning around to feel their glares at him, Naruto smirked as a thought quickly hit him, _'Could it mean that they can't jump it? Hah, this could be my chance.'_ Turning around, Naruto prepared to run, but as soon as he took a step forward to freedom, he heard someone land in front of him and momentarily froze and scowled. _'Damn Uchiha! Burn in Hell!'_

Not a moment later, the rest jumped and landed behind him.

'_Crap! Even gorilla could jump that far? Argh! I should just run them all over and toss them from this cliff right now…'_ interrupted from his wish-fullness, Naruto grumbled as Kirabi pushed him to move further.

* * *

It's been close to hours and they were still jumping from one cliff onto the other.

Landing onto the next brick of rock, Naruto could not miss that the further they went the weaker the cliffs became as they basically seemed to crumble beneath his feet with every land and step.

"This land is too dead."

"Surprised?" asked Akira, landing behind him, "I can't sense a single drop of water here."

"Aa… and the trees are all dried out, look, even roots are showing of the grounds," noted Satoru as he and Osamu passed Naruto and went after Akira to jump onto the next cliff.

Landing with a heavy foot beside the blond, Kirabi huffed and followed them, while Naruto stayed behind and frowned as the ground Kirabi walked over gave a deeper crack…or maybe not…

"What's wrong?" curious, Itachi come behind the blond.

"…No …nothing." shaking his head, Naruto rubbed his ear.

"Try to catch up, squirts," grinned the black-skinned and jumped onto the next cliff.

"I'm not a squirt," mumbled Naruto, following suit the Uchiha.

Walking over the lightly cracking cliff grounds, Naruto couldn't help the shudder, "I feel like the ground is about to crumble beneath my feet…"

"Hn."

Suddenly there was a snap and Naruto and Itachi gasped as their next step abruptly took them both down as the ground beneath them actually broke.

Outstretching his hands up, Naruto quickly grabbed a hold onto some kind of ropes brushing against his hands, which he quickly realized were those thick roots from the dead trees, and caught himself with a harsh tug of his hands.

Sighing in relief, Naruto smiled, "Pfu…that was cl-AAAH!" but suddenly he flinched and yelped as he felt someone grab a hold onto his ankle and yank him a few inched down the root from the abruptly added weight.  
Momentarily he realized that it was the Uchiha, who was holding onto him the same way he was holding onto the roots…which, of course, began to slowly break.

"Ah!… Let go!" growled Naruto as he tried to secure his hold onto the ripping root hanging loosely from the thicker part of the crumbled ground.

Turning his eyes from the deep depth of the abyss underneath them, Itachi glared up at the blond. "Oh you would like that wouldn't you…"

'_Well I certainly wouldn't mind!' _inwardly roared the blond.

"Hold still," Grabbing onto Naruto's pants-belt, Itachi pulled himself up and gripped the blond's shoulder with his left hand.

Twitching at the intimacy, not to mention a hand positioned very close to his private be-hind that Itachi nearly exposed by pulling himself up, Naruto's mind began screaming, _'__ARgh_! I was right! He is a pervert!'

Placing then his right hand against the blond's shoulder, Itachi stretched his left forward and tried to reach for the root but froze as he saw it breaking the last skin.

"Shit," cursed Itachi.

"Ara?…" blinking at the colorful proclamation, Naruto gasped as the root finally broke and the two felt themselves fall down for the second time.

"FUCK!"

* * *

The left four shinobi abruptly came to a halt as a loud shout broke through to them from somewhere behind.

_

* * *

_

_A/N_

_****__è_Thank ya: XXXHaine no KitsuneXXX, saya420, Whiteinu1, BloodRavenMaiden & Narutopokefan! XDD

_& especial thanx to:_ narubby23 & -siarafaerie-101-miss! XDD


	32. Chapter 32

'_**Chapter 32'**_

_(lil'child)_

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Sitting on the window sill, hanging one foot over the edge, Sasuke gazed through the darkness of his room and onto the empty streets of Konoha.

_"What do you think?"_

_"Right. We should get that too…. …But…, do you think he'll like it?"_

_"If he's just like the Naruto we know, then yes…"_

'_Tch!'_ Knitting his eyes shut, Sasuke sighed, unable to forget the conversation he overheard between the two kunoichis regarding one peculiar blond. _'What is going on?'_

Pushing his second foot up and over the window's edge, Sasuke prepared to jump down when the doors to his room cracked open.

"Umm…Sasuke-kun? W-where are you going?"

Looking at his red-headed teammate, Sasuke's eyes slightly turned to look behind her, where he could see Suigetsu trying to make Juugo drink with him.

"Out," grumbled the dark-haired, pulling on the hood of his cloak.

Hearing the conversation, Suigetsu arched a brow and looked at the clock that read past midnight, "At such an hour?"

"Is there a problem with that?" growled Sasuke, glaring at him.

Chuckling nervously, Suigetsu waved him away, "Nah man, just saying."

Taking off her glasses, Karin nipped on the edge while she peered at Sasuke through half lidded eyes, "Sasuke-kun, can I com-…"

"No." without anything another word, Sasuke jumped out the window; as he descended down the street he could still hear Suigetsu's laughter until there was a loud crash and Suigetsu's voice died out.

* * *

Propping his head on his crossed hands on the windowsill, little Naruto stared high into the opened window's dark sky with a longing look in his eyes.

Days have passed and he learned many new things in this strange world he was at. Uncle Jiraiya had avoided telling him where his uncle-Orochimaru was, instead telling him about his elder's self accomplishments;

Tsunade had told him that he had somehow come into a possession of the eyes that were just like his deceased uncle's Fugaku's; however he couldn't answer them how he got them, he didn't know himself;

A strange pink-haired girl had told him that she and elder-Naruto had been great friends along with a lot of her peers he had met that day. Along with them he met a small shy red-headed boy, who didn't talk much at first, he was constantly in distress and rubbing his eyes; but later he learned that he and that boy were somewhat the same, both coming from another world by an unknown force;

Then he encountered a kind man Iruka, who told him how he took care and watch over elder-Naruto when he was his age, thus telling how he came to know him in his dimensional self;

And Hatake Kakashi just stayed by his side the whole time with an unreadable smile hidden under his face, giving the aura of understanding and sympathy.

At some point it has been an interesting experience: to meet new people and learn new things, like the differences in their personality and ages; …but for him it was enough, and he just wanted to get back home and hug his father.

A sudden hand dropped onto his head and he turned his neck upwards, blinking at the smiling Jounin standing behind him.

"Do you miss your home?"

The boy shook his head and looked back outside. "I miss dad the most."

Kakashi's eyes lidded halfway and he picked the boy of the ground. Sitting on the windowsill himself, he placed the child in his lap.

"Will I ever get back?"

Kakashi heaved a small sigh, "I'm not going to lie to you Naruto… we don't know how to get you back. We don't even know what happened and why were the four of you exchanged in the first place."

"Four?"

"Aa. Together with you, Gaara and your dimensional self, Gaara's dimensional self also got sucked into an unknown."

Nodding in understanding, Naruto's brows lightly knitted as he tried to remember something from the past or before the happening of the exchange, however all resumed in dark picture.

"Naruto," drawing the boy out of his thoughts, Kakashi asked, "Is there anything you remember before you came to this world? Perhaps something of the last encounter? Whatever you say could have leads… Can you recall anything?"

The child shook his head.

"Well then…what is the last thing that you remember?"

Looking down on his hands, Naruto turned his palms upwards and stared at them. A flash of wooden toy bricks falling suddenly from his hands ran through his head before it disappeared. Shutting his eyes close tight, the boy hissed as a sudden pain launched into his head before his vision blurred into something orange; a hollow echo of someone laughing forced his eyes back open and he blinked, staring back at his hands.

"Naruto?"

"Huh?" startled, the boy looked back at the Jounin, who was staring at him with a slight frown. "What's wrong? Did you remember something?"

Turning his eyes back on his hands, little Naruto mumbled out, "Orange."

Kakashi blinked, _'Huh?'_ "Orange?"

Lidding his eyes shut, the boy suddenly tucked his head into Kakashi's chest. "I want to sleep."

'_He must be very tired.'_ Kakashi sighed, from one point sad for not getting anything more and from the other pleased that the boy had no sleeping disorder. "Ok. I'll take you to bed." Picking the boy up, Kakashi laid him under the sheets and set on the bedside, watching as the child snuggled into the pillow before going lax in a dream.

A light knock abruptly disturbed him from his absorbing and he went to open the door. Sakura was standing there.

Exiting the room, Kakashi silently closed it behind him and looked at his former-student. "What's up?"

"Lady Hokage requested to see you. She wants to know the updates on Naruto. Speaking of which, how is he?" she asked with concern.

Kakashi's eyes curled into a smile, "He's fine, just tired. This day must have been too much for _his_ update."

Biting her lip, Sakura rubbed his arm, "Can I see him?"

"Sure, just be quiet, ok? I'll be at the Hokage's if you need me."

Nodding, Sakura entered the room while Kakashi disappeared.

Sitting in a chair near the bed, Sakura smiled as she ran her hand over little Naruto's whisker-less cheek.

"Naruto…where are you now? What happened?"

"So this is the reason there's so much buzz about."

Startled, Sakura quickly stood to her feet, knocking the stool in process as she raised her guard, but dropped it as soon as she met features of her long lost teammate.

"…Sa-…-su-ke-…-kun…?"

Turning his black eyes away from the young woman, no more a girl, Sasuke jumped from the windowsill and entered the room. "I've been wondering why the system in this pathetic village has been so down lately. But never had I thought the reason for it to be _this_." emphasizing the meaning, Sasuke tilted his head to the side and stared at the sleeping child in bed behind the pink-haired kunoichi.

Sakura finally found her breathing and brought her hands forward, effectively stopping Sasuke from advancing towards her and the child. "Don't come any closer!" she warned.

Sasuke's eyebrow lifted up, slightly impressed that instead of jumping him into a squealing hug, she was opposing him.

"Who is that child Sakura?" basically he knew who he was, but he wanted a confirmation.

Sakura didn't answer, but kept gritting her teeth at him, "What are you doing here?"

"What, you asked? Wasn't it what you wanted? For me to get back?"

Her posture slightly dropped as hope flashed through her eyes. "You came back?"

However, his smirk pushed Sakura back into hostility. "No. I didn't. There's another reason I'm here. And, unfortunately, neither for you or that idiot."

"Then what are you doing here?" she nearly shouted, and flinched at her loud voice; looking behind her, she made sure Naruto was still sleeping before taking a step closer to him and keeping her eyes focused back on the stoic raven-haired.

Sasuke's smirk slightly widened. "Curiosity. Tell me. What did that clumsy fool do to turn himself into a child?"

"That's none of your business!" hissed Sakura, cursing herself afterwards as Sasuke then said,

"Ah… so this really _is_ Naruto then?" taking a casual step to the side, Sasuke circled the bed while absorbing the sleeping boy, silently wondering where did the infamous whiskers disappeared.

Sakura's eyes never left him, her fists clenched by her side, ready to strike at any second if Sasuke suddenly does anything stupid.

"Why is he like this?"

Sakura was ready to snap back, but instead she heard someone else's voice speak for her.

"I don't think you have the right to know that."

Sasuke stopped advancing and his eyes turned to the left, where a sharp end of a kunai was pressing towards his throat. His eyes clashed with _Byakugan_ and he glared.

"Sorry, Uchiha." Emerging from the shadows, Shikamaru came to stand in between Sasuke and little Naruto's bed, "But you won't get to see the real Naruto for a long time."

Sasuke's glare turned from Neji towards the lazy Jounin Shikamaru. "What do you mean the _real Naruto_? Where _is_ he?"

"Does it matter? You never cared before."

Something in that sentence irked Sasuke and his _Sharingan_ blazed at the unimpressed Hyuuga.

"Where is he?"

Sakura shivered at his tone, quickly looking down on evenly breathing boy, _'How can he still be sleeping with this ruckus?'_

A sudden swirl of leafs made all eyes snap towards Kakashi as he appeared behind Shikamaru with a hard stoned face. "Why are you here, Sasuke?"

Sasuke's brow turned upwards for the second time. _'Now this is unusual. Instead of trying to take me in, they're forcing me away?'_ "Don't worry, I'm not here for long."

"If that is so, then leave. We don't have time for you."

The second eyebrow joined Sasuke's first. _'What is going on?'_ he expected all instead of this. Wasn't he a criminal? Why were they letting him slip away when he was right within their reach?

Kakashi's eyes narrowed, "I know that you're not real. What use would it be to fight a clone?"

"Hn," Sasuke scowled, _'Of course, he has Sharingan after all.'_ Suddenly the held kunai slashed across his neck and he disappeared in a 'poof' of smoke.

Neji placed the kunai away and looked towards the boy as did the rest.

Kakashi chuckled at the still sleeping form, "He can live through war and not know as it passes."

Shaking his head, Shikamaru mutter a 'drag' sentence and went for an exit, "I'll tell Godaime to spread a search party. The Uchiha mustn't be too far off."

"Hm," bowing his head, Neji followed him and closed the doors behind.

Placing a hand onto Sakura's shoulder, Kakashi asked, "Is everything alright?"

Sakura shakily nodded, "Yes. It's just so unorthodox…having him back in the village. Sensei, I'm afraid…for Naruto. Sasuke isn't like he used to be."

"Everything's going to be alright. We'll protect Naruto. It's going to be good."

Nodding with a small smile, Sakura looked on more time at the little blond before exiting the room, leaving Kakashi alone with Naruto as usual.

Sighing, Kakashi set on a chair near the bed and closed his eyes.

Unbeknownst to him, little Naruto's eyes lidded open and he looked outside the window, where a secluded tree could be seen far-far off on a small hill. Seeing a shadow move before it disappeared from his sight, Naruto blinked his eyes back close and sighed as he fell asleep one more time, hopefully without anyone to disturb him. _'Sasuke…Where did I hear it before?'_

* * *

Sasuke's eyes opened, feeling the memories of his clone enter his mind. _'So that's how it is huh?'_ It was very unusual for Kakashi, Sakura and anyone of his peers to not come looking for him as it usually would be, instead leaving the search to Anbu. But more than that, he discovered that that boy, who's chakra was almost the same as Naruto's (if not count something missing (the demon)), was not Naruto at all. _'What happened? Where is that fool?'_ Jumping from the tree, Sasuke quickly went back to the inn.

Finally healing his wounds after Karin's beating, Suigetsu was just about to fall to sleep when the doors to Sasuke's room slammed open and Sasuke himself walked out.

"Get dressed. We're leaving."

"Wha-? But I just lay down!"

"Now, Suigetsu!"

"Tch! Alright-alright!" cursing and cursing again, Suigetsu untangled himself from the sheets and threw a shoe at Karin's door.

"What!" snapped Karin's voice from behind the door.

"Get the hell up! Your prince has returned!"

"Sasuke-KUN!" slamming her doors open, Karin leached herself on Sasuke's arm. "Oh where have you been so long? I was soo worried!"

Sasuke didn't answer her question and just said, "You all have two minutes to get your stuff or I'm leaving without you."

Karin stormed pass already dressed Juugo and into her room.

"Huh? Did you get what you've been looking for already?" wondered Suigetsu, putting on his coat.

"No. But we have to depart for now. They're having Anbu searching us."

"Heheh. What happened? Got caught in _action_?" sniggered Suigetsu.

Sasuke just glared at him.

Once Karin finally came out of her room, they all left.

* * *

Perched on a skew roof, a figure of a tall and strong build eliminated by dim light of the moon stared at the Hokage's proud tower, in which a very intriguing specimen was currently situated.

Red eyes of the man stayed focus at all time, not even moving as he awaited till the guards by the entrance slipped in their precaution.

And a small blink was all it took for the figure to leap.

* * *

…

"…_when __I performed the demonic healing jutsu on you…I healed your body till the amount of hundred percent__…"_

"…_but it cost me…"_

…

"…_I can't see…"_

…

"…_I lost my vision… Gaara…"_

…

Slowly lidding his eyes open, little Naruto looked up at the dark ceiling; it was still dark outside, though that was not what concerned him…

'_That dream again…'_ He was having those strange snips of dreams. Dreams of something he must have done but could not quite remember actually doing. _'They seem so realistic… What are my dreams? Are they memories? Why can't I remember them?'_ and why did they show him that boy Gaara? He never knew the red-headed boy before, did he? And he knew he was not as tall now as he was in his dream. _'Then again…those are just dreams, are they not?' _

Turning on the left side, the boy looked up at the masked Jounin, sleeping with his arms crossed in a chair near his bed. "Hatake-san?" There was no answer. _'He must be tire…and very sleepy…'_ Feeling his own eyes start to close again, Naruto sighed in content as sleep took over him once more. Though before actually sinking back into his strange dreamland, he felt his covers being gently lifted and something slide under his weight before getting picked up.

Startled and jerked awake, little Naruto quickly jumped up and looked around, though nothing was there, nor in the room, nor under his bed…but the window was opened, and he knew he remembered Kakashi closing it before taking him to bed.

Frightened and shaking, he rushed out of bed and towards sleeping Kakashi. "H-Hatake-san…Hatake-san! Please wake up!"

"HM?" snapping his eyes open, Kakashi quickly looked around and reached for his kunai, though as soon as he saw the child whimpering by his feet he sighed and lowered his guard. "What is it? Did you have a bad dream?" he asked playfully, smiling at the naivety.

Shaking his head, Naruto kept staring at the opened window and silently whispered out what troubled him, "…T-the window…was closed…"

Frowning at that, Kakashi looked towards the opened window. _'Yes. It sure was closed.'_ Standing up, he reached the window and peeked outside. All seemed as quiet as in late night should be, or perhaps not quiet enough. "Stay here, I'll be right back," jumped out, Kakashi left Naruto in the room to take a more closer look around, just to be sure; after all, there was a certain someone who was after little Naruto…

Left alone in a choking silence, the child bit his lip and moved towards the bed to grab his sheets and wrap himself around them. Just when panic started to creep up, Kakashi finally came back through the window and closed it with a lock.

"It's alright. There's no-one there, Naruto. No need to be frightened." assured Kakashi, picking the boy up and settling him down on the bed.

"Y-you…sure?" stammered the small one, blinking his big eyes at the Jounin.

"Aa…I scared all the bad ghosts away. So you can go back to bed now." ruffling the blond head, Kakashi curled his eyes into a famous smile, "If you want, I can stay awake through the whole night and keep you safe. Would you like that?"

"Ok…" Nodding, Naruto curled into a ball and hugged his pillow. "Good night, Hatake-san."

"Goodnight…" Petting the boy lightly on the head till he was lulled into sure sleep, Kakashi suddenly lost his kind smile as it curled into a slight smirk, and his features changed into the dark traits of a widely known murderer – Itachi Uchiha. "…Naruto-chan."

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_A/N_

_Am sorry for the long wait & a short chp. Just wanted ya to know that the story is still going, although rather slow;))_

_**è**_ Thank ya to all who reviewed & kept the story in check!XD

Later…


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